


Kung Fu Panda 4: Dark-Bright 1

by Ace_Risk



Category: Kung Fu Panda (Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-17 14:27:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 64,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18100334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ace_Risk/pseuds/Ace_Risk
Summary: Several months after he defeated Kai the spirit Warrior, Po becomes a Kung Fu teacher and starts to be more dedicated to learning new techniques and improving his skills. However he also begins to have realistic nightmares of an evil plot connected to him. His friends are worried for his new behavior. Most notably Tigress. Will they discover the problem? Read to find out! Complete!





	Kung Fu Panda 4: Dark-Bright 1

**A/N: This was my first fic, I watched all three movies and read a couple of good fanfics so I thought I’d make my own crack at one. This Story will take place about a month after the events of KFP 3.**

 

**Hope you enjoy!**

 

**Disclaimer: I do not own Kung Fu Panda**

 

Kung Fu Panda: Dark-Bright

Written By: Ace_Risk

 

Chapter 1

 

Premonitions

 

Darkness. All he saw surrounding him was darkness. For what seemed like an hour, he sat there in what he thought to be an unlit room. Then a faint sound was heard, it sounded very familiar. Almost as if another creature was using its tongue to sense something in the area. Where had he heard this noise before...? The only one he knew who made sounds even remotely similar to these was Viper. However this option was quickly overruled as heard footsteps shortly after, although they weren’t your average footsteps, they sounded rough like claws scratching a hard surface and though he didn’t want to admit it...they were intimidating. The creature then stopped, he still couldn’t see the creature as the room was very dark, however he knew it was nearby as the footsteps sounded close. It sarcastically spoke out “Comfortable?” He hadn’t even noticed until now that he was sitting on a dirty stone floor which reminded him of the dungeons in Gongmen City, although this room was much larger than those small prison cells. The creature then began chuckling as it said “don’t worry you wont be here for much longer, I have greater plans involving you.” He couldn’t understand what the creature meant by this as he thought to himself, what plans? Where am I? Who or what is this thing that is speaking to me? His thoughts were soon interrupted as the figure then got even closer, still not close enough to see in detail, and it whispered into his ear “you’ll find out soon enough that darkness can consume anything if given the chance.” He was taken back by this statement from the creature but before he could ponder it, his neck was met by two fangs that had punctured his skin. And then…

 

“Gasp!” Po breathed as he shot up from his bed. He looked around while trying to catch his breath. He could see paper walls with wooden frames all around him allowing a small amount of light into the room, as well as wooden shelves with action figures of the Furious Five and a jade staff with a Yin and Yang symbol at the end on a stand. He settled down and managed to catch his breath knowing that he was in his room at the Jade Palace barracks. “I hope nobody heard that.” He muttered to himself. He then looked back at the paper wall behind his bed, judging by how much light was filling his room he presumed that it was 5:00 AM, just an hour before the morning gong would go off. He was about to get out of bed to do his morning training routines until his thoughts went back to the nightmare that he had just had. Who was that creature in the dark room? What did it mean when it said it had plans involving me?

 

He knew he couldn’t dwell on this dream  for long as he had important duties to keep up, his training and teaching to name a few. Discarding the thoughts of the nightmare, he got out of his bed and  went to go  put on his new clothing. 

 

 

Ever s ince he had become a teacher at the Jade Palace he wanted to look  the part , so he asked the  tailor in the valley to make him some clothing for training and some clothing for teaching. The new tailor in the valley of peace was one of the best in China, she had even made certain garments for the emperor  himself  and was well known for making clothing for all sorts of people from the lights of Rabbits  to Rhinos. She managed to  ma k e him some  pairs of  training pants,  a couple of white training vests  as well as  two green tunics with patterns of golden dragons which looked  much  like the one he had made out of Chi while battling Kai in the spirit realm. She also  made him a cloak which was about six feet long which had patterns of lotus flowers colored black with the rest of the cloak was colored gol d which he frequently wore as he always imagined himself wearing what he would call ‘an awesome cape’ when he was younger.

 

H e quickly slipped on his training clothing and quietly left the student barracks  to get some early training in before the morning gong . He didn’t realize however that  on his way out of the Barracks he was  being  followed...

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Concerns

 

“Inner Peace...” Po quietly spoke to himself while in a calm meditative pose. He was using the inner peace technique in combination with meditation to calm his mind and body after the vigorous training he had just done. Each morning for the last month, Po had run up the 1000 steps to the palace 3-4 times. At first it was Shifu’s idea as he claimed “you need to conquer all your demons Po, and since I hear you have always had qualms with stairs you will run up the 1000 stairs several times every day for the next week.” He chuckled at the thought as he remembered all the times when he would be unable to scale a flight of stairs or whenever he did get to the top he would either pass out or fall back down the stairs. Although after that week of running up and down the stairs twice, he noticed that his efforts were paying off and for the first time in his life he had actually lost weight. However after two weeks of running up the stairs it started to get too easy and so he began to run up and down 3-4 times instead to increase his stamina. 

 

Now a whole month later, his  Results were really showing as Po hardly even looked like a normal Panda, he had lost almost half of his belly fat and he was  now easily able to keep up with the same pace as many of his friends excluding Mantis who was fast on another level entirely. He now fit into his training clothes perfectly  as well as looked much more athletically toned  through his fur . To say he was happy with the results would be an understatement, in fact the last month and a half was one of the happiest times in his life, as he had accomplished several of his goals, to lose weight and become a teacher of martial  arts.

 

While he peacefully sat near the dragon grotto, his ears perked up as he heard a faint cracking noise in the area. He sensed that he wasn’t alone. So he picked up his staff that he had laid on the ground before him and stood up with his eyes closed. He had a good idea of where  or rather who  the noise had come from and so he called out “You know curiosity killed the cat right?” He then chuckled to himself still with his eyes closed as he prepared for  the impending attack. He then turned around and used his staff and focused his Chi to block the powerful kick of the attacker. A large ring of energy pulsated from the origin of the move making shock waves which blew back the leaves on nearby plants and disturbed the water in the cave.

 

As the attacker was launched from him upon impact Po said out loud  while chuckling to himself,  “I’m glad I had time to prepare for tha t.”  When the  attacker  landed they  spoke, “You  of all people  should know that no one  mocks  me and gets away with it ‘Dragon Warrior’.” Po then spoke again, “ how long have you been following me this time ‘Master Tigress’?” Tigress was taken back by this question by the Panda, she didn’t understand how he knew she had followed him more than once this week. So instead of answering his question she answered with a question of her own “ What makes you think I followed you more than once?” Po chuckled to himself as he remembered talking to Viper, he had spoken to her earlier in the week and she had told him that Tigress had followed and watched him during his morning training twice this week. He decided not to reveal the real reason to avoid getting Viper into trouble, while also knowing that it would drive the female Tiger crazy and answered back “It doesn’t matter how I know, what matters is why you keep watching me train every morning.”  As Po expected, this irritated Tigress  as she let out a small growl , she did not like secrets kept from her especially from her closest friends, but respecting her friend’s privacy she backed off and answered his question “We’ve been worried about you lately Po...I’ve  been worried about you...” 

 

Po wasn’t surprised by the first thing she had said, he knew that the others had been worried about him for the last few weeks. In fact he was getting a little annoyed when either one of the five, Shifu or anyone else would ask if he was alright when he seemed tired while teaching,  during meals  or any other time . He would admit to himself that he was tired most times that they would ask, teaching Kung Fu took it out of him along with his training. However the second thing she said surprised him, he had never taken Tigress for the caring type. He always thought that nothing fazed what he would call ‘the most Hardcore Master in all of China’, however considering how close they were as friends he understood the feeling of worry and decided to lighten the mood with another joke “what? Is it because ‘THE Big Fat Panda’  is  not so big and fat anymore?” 

 

T igress almost laughed at this, throughout the years she had know n the Panda, her and him had become very close friends and one of the things she knew well about him was that he could ease any tension with his silly nature and sense of humor. She decided to answer back with some fun of her own “fat no, big yes” Po laughed at this  and sarcastically said “wow Tigress! I didn’t know you were capable of humor!” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the Panda’s comments as she answered back again “well, the Hardcore have to  lighten up from time to time...” 

 

Po was happy that Tigress and him were such close friends, after all, ever since he was a teenager she had been one of his idols, in fact of all the action figures in his collection  hers was his favorite. He said, “I’m glad I got to meet all of you Tigress, Oogway really was right when he said ‘there are no accidents’, everything I aspired to be  when I was younger has been made possible by you guys.” Tigress was touched by this, her and the Five knew very well how much of a fan Po was and still is of them, though it made her reflect on the time when he first came to the Palace after being declared the Dragon Warrior and how she was very cold and rude towards him, not giving him a chance to prove everyone he was the  D ragon  W arrior. She slightly frowned at the thought, this didn’t go unnoticed by Po who knew the exact reason for her action. In truth he didn’t blame anyone for their unaccetptance towards him as he believed in letting the wrongs of the past to wash away, this was also one of the reasons he was able to achieve inner peace so young. To cheer his friend up he stated, “com e  on, lets head back to the palace, the gong will go off any minute now,  I’d also like if you would come with me on a mission later.”

 

Tigress nodded and began to follow Po back to the Palace grounds,  however she suddenly stopped,  having been  lost in thought. ‘I wonder what kind of mission he could mean?, and why do I feel so different around him lately? Like I’m much more comfortable around him than anyone else...’. Her thoughts were shortly interrupted as Po called back to her, “coming?” She broke out of her trance nodding to him and caught up to him as they walked down the cliffs towards the Palace.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 3

 

Girl talk and Master’s chat

 

After Po had returned to his room in the barracks, he quickly changed into his green tunic and his golden cloak and waited for the morning gong to sound. While waiting he looked at his completed action figure collection, since his last adventure he had created several new characters, Kai the spirit warrior and his biological father Li Shan. He took great pride in his work, he had an action figure of almost every Kung Fu master and every great villain in all of China. ‘I’ll need to find a way to get rid of these things eventually, they’re beginning to take up way to much space here...’ he thought to himself. ‘What if...’

 

Before he finished his train of thought, he heard the sound of the morning gong ring through the palace grounds, so he exited his room and waited to be greeted by the five as well as his former master. After he entered the hall, his friends did as well to greet their master. After the fight with Kai, the others had also received new clothing from the new tailor in the valley. Monkey had decided to wear a black training vest today along with his wrist bracers and gray training pants. Viper had worn pink lotus clips on her head but the ones she wore now were slightly larger than the ones she used to have, she also recently tattooed different Chinese characters onto the back of her scales which read ‘Excellence of self’. Crane wore the same clothing as he always had, however he had recently modified his bamboo hat to have a thin blade engraved with Chinese characters encompassing the entire edge of the hat (think Kung lao from Mortal Kombat) making for a lethal weapon and a great fashion statement. And Tigress had worn a blue training vest that closely resembled her first red training vest only another color, as well as the same black training pants as always, Po still thought that her golden robe was her best attire but he definitely preferred her blue vest over the red one though that was only his opinion.

 

They were all met by master Shifu who wore his normal brown robe along with  his green shawl. They  bowed while speaking in unison  as they greeted their wise master “Good morning Master Shifu.” Po however did not refer to Shifu as ‘master’ anymore simply because he was not being formally taught by Shifu. He instead  bowed and  said “good morning Shifu.” Shifu was not surprised by this, ever since Po had defeated Kai and become a master of Chi he  realized that Po was an excellent teacher, and had even learned many new teachings from the panda himself. He had never imagined that Po could become as dedicated and as skilled as he was, when Po first arrived at the palace after being pronounced the Dragon Warrior by his former master Oogway he like Tigress, did not believe the Panda to be worthy of the title. However he soon began to realize that there was no one in all of China who deserved the title more than Po,  he had the most pure heart of anyone he knew other than his former master. He then answered back “Good morning students, good morning Po.” He then said “I expect each one of you to make improvements on the lessons that I taught you all yesterday.”  He then thought of something he wanted to ask Po, “Po, could you and I speak at the summit of the peach tree after you finish breakfast?”  Everyone nodded at Shifu’s order s  while Po answered “very well, I also had something I wanted to speak about with you.” Shifu nodded dismissed the others as they  left to go to the dinning room for breakfast.

 

Every since Po had first come to the palace, he had often cooked meals for the five, Mantis and Monkey could hardly even go a day without his signature dish: the secret ingredient soup. Of course, there really wasn’t any  secret ingredient, but only he and his father Mr Ping knew that. Mr Ping’s reason for hiding ‘the secret’ was to make people believe it was special, and he was right about this for nearly all the residents in the valley of peace who had tried the secret ingredient soup absolutely cherished the dish. Even Tigress had eventually tried the soup, though she preferred to have spices added to increase the flavor of the dish.  Once Po served the dishes to each of them they thanked him and began eating. 

 

P o, Mantis and Monkey were talking during breakfast about  the new techniques that Shifu had taught the day before and also about how Po’s new cape, tunic and training pants made him look much more dignified than his patched up shorts he had before. Everyone was engaging in the conversation except for Tigress, she unlike the rest was slightly distraught. She was wondering what it was that Master Shifu wanted to speak to Po about, but also she wondered what Po wanted to talk to him about. Not only this but she also wondered what kind of mission Po was talking about earlier when they spoke at the cave of the Dragon Grotto. Her train of thought was broken however as she heard Viper was  quietly  speaking to her, but she didn’t quite catch everything her ‘Sister’ had said. Tigress said “sorry Viper, I was lost in thought for a moment, is something wrong?”  Viper then said “I was saying did you follow him again?” Tigress was glad that Viper was saying what she was quietly since she didn’t want someone like Mantis to have a way to annoy or blackmail her. She responded silently “Yes, but he caught onto me this time, I might have accidentally stepped on a twig to hard and he must have heard me, but somehow he knew it was me.” Viper wanted so badly to laugh knowing that she was the reason Po knew it was Tigress following him, however she managed to keep her composure and say “so what happened when he caught you in the act?” Tigress responded “ well he tried to make a joke, so I attempted to hit him with one of my most powerful attacks to catch him off guard but he blocked it almost effortlessly.” She then continued “hes gotten really powerful Viper, its worrying me, he’s never been this dedicated to his training.” Viper then responded “I’m sure there’s a true reason behind his change in behavior, but we shouldn’t pester him, if Po wanted us to know his reason he would have told us.” Tigress nodded and began eating her food again, but before she could finish, Viper spoke again while winking at Tigress “besides he looks much more handsome than he did before doesn’t he?” Without thinking Tigress replied “Yes maybe a little...wait what!?” Viper couldn’t help but giggle at this, ever since she had witnessed how close of friends Po and Tigress were, she always wanted to set them up in some way. She knew that  Tigress never liked to share her emotions but she also knew that Tigress felt different towards Po. “That is not what I meant and you know it!” Tigress said while blushing slightly trying to defend herself. Viper laughed and sarcastically said “Whatever you say Juliet.” Tigress annoyingly growled and went back to eating her soup when the boys asked “so what are you girls talking about?” 

 

Viper answered “oh nothing in particular, say Po what was it that you wanted to speak to Master Shifu about after breakfast?” Tigress then looked at her and mouthed to her a ‘thank you’ and she nodded.  Po didn’t want to disclose the reason he wanted to speak to Shifu, in fact this reason was very personal to him. “I don’t think you guys need to know, it’s kind of personal.” He said, everyone respected his privacy and Viper dropped the subject. Po then spoke again “speaking of Shifu, I’d like to go speak with him now since I’ve finished my soup, do any of you need anything before I go?” Everyone shook their heads as they were just about done their food themselves. Before he left he said “Oh and by the way, Tigress could you meet me at th e Dragon Grotto at around 5:00?” Tigress just responded “Umm okay sure thing Po.” Po then smiled and left the room clearing his dishes before he left.

 

Shifu was balancing on Oogway’s old wooden staff  at the summit of the Peach tree of Heavenly Wisdom  when heard footsteps, he had recently been pondering what Po had said after his defeat of the spirit warrior Kai. Po had claimed to have met his former master Oogway in the spirit realm and Shifu wanted to know more about t his interaction.  Once the footsteps stopped just a few feet behind him he turned around on the staff and said “Thank you for honoring my request Po, I wanted to ask you a couple of things while you’re up here.” Po nodded and said “likewise Shifu, I also wanted to ask you about something.” Shifu then answered back “alright, I suppose you can ask your question first since you are now the master.” Po cut straight to the chase “I was going to ask you if it would be alright if I went on a mission with Tigress today.” Shifu raised his eyebrow and replied “oh? What kind of mission?”  Po then responded “well I was looking at my action figure collection today and I realized I have way too many of those things. So I was wondering if you would let Tigress and I go down to the Bao Gu Orphanage and donate some of my action figures to the children?” Shifu then nodded and said “I think that is a brilliant idea Po, of course you two can go.” Po smiled and nodded and asked “now what was it that you wanted to ask me?” Shifu the said “ah yes… I was wondering about the time you spoke to Oogway in the spirit realm.” Po responded “okay, what would you like to know?”  Shifu responded “I was wondering how he seemed when you spoke him?” Po the replied back “he seemed very happy and at peace, almost as if he felt his life work had been completed.” Shifu then sighed happily knowing that his former master was feeling content with how he had believed in the Panda how the Dragon Warrior had achieved his destiny. He then remembered that there was another question that he wanted to ask the Panda while he was still there. 

 

“very good Po, and one more thing...do you think you could possibly take me to the spirit world to see Oogway again?” Po truthfully didn’t know whether he could or could not do this, however if he was able to take Kai to the spirit world than it should be possible to take anyone there. He answered back optimistically “I’m not sure, but I can try...” Shifu then answered, “I’m not in any rush Po, so whenever you get the chance just let me know” Po then nodded as both Master’s bowed to each other, then Po left the mountain summit to go train.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 4

 

Spiritual Advice

 

Po sat down at the edge of the Pool of sacred tears, he had come up here meditate and to ponder some of his thoughts. He was glad Shifu had allowed him to visit the orphanage with Tigress, not only because it would give him a way to get rid of some of his action figures, but also because he believed it would be good for Tigress. He knew that the orphanage wasn’t the happiest part of Tigress’ life, however he believed that by showing the children at the orphanage some happiness, it would be good for her heart. He also thought back to what Shifu had asked him earlier, and he wondered if it was possible for him to take Shifu to the spirit realm and back.

 

He then thought ‘why don’t I just try going there myself and ask Oogway about it’. So he got up from his spot and picked up his staff and prepared to perform the Wuxi finger hold on himself. He closed his eyes, then used his free hand to grab his other hand’s index finger, then he lowered his pinky finger while saying “Skadoosh!” And within a second his entire body was encompassed in pink lotus blossoms and a massive golden wave of chi was sent in every direction. When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was floating above a large pool of golden liquid, the skies in the area were bright orange which had many floating peach blossoms freely flowing in the soft breeze. To his right was a peach tree which looked almost identical to the one near the Jade Palace. He was greeted by a slow and wise voice “Dragon Warrior.”

 

Po looked at the old GalápagosTortoise who was sitting on the first branch of the tree, he replied back in a respectful tone “Master Oogway.” Master Oogway then joked while chuckling “you look good lately, been working out?” Po then laughed in his head, he knew that Master Oogway would sometimes avoid formalities, he liked this about the Tortoise as it was something they both had in common. He then responded “it’s good to see you again Master.” Oogway smiled and answered “Likewise my friend, now, what brings you back here?” In truth Po had come to the spirit realm to ask Oogway if it was possible for him to take people like Shifu from the mortal realm and into the spirit realm, but he also wanted to know if it was possible to bring people back from the spirit realm to the mortal realm. So he asked “I came here to ask you if you know if it’s possible to take people from the mortal realm into the spirit world, and vise versa?” Oogway was still smiling as he said “well...do you believe that you can take people from the mortal realm here?” Po knew that Oogway never gave a straight answer for most of the questions he was asked, however he was easily able to understand what his master meant by this. So he thanked him “I understand Master, thank you for your advice.”

 

While the two were conversing, a certain deranged individual was listening waiting for the perfect opportunity to make his move. For 3 years this individual had hated the Dragon Warrior as he had suffered one the most humiliating defeats to the Panda years ago, ever since then he had held a grudge against the Panda and desired revenge. It wasn’t only the panda he wanted revenge against however, years before he had been defeated by Po, he had striven to be the Dragon Warrior himself. However he was denied the this right by Master Oogway after working nearly his entire life to achieve the title. He despised Oogway for this, and now he was going to have his opportunity at retribution. He was spying on the two what he would call ‘self righteous heathens’ from a nearby mountain top where he was almost completely hidden from view. Growing impatient however, he impulsively jumped from the mountain to catch the Dragon Warrior by surprise.

 

“Wait, did you hear something?” said Po as he turned around to see what was making the noise that sounded like someone angrily yelling, and it was getting closer very quickly. When he turned his head and only saw a blur of motion as he was swiftly kicked in the face extremely hard and was knocked to the ground. Po winced in pain, he hadn’t been hit this hard since…

“Tai Lung...Still out for revenge I see.” Po said while he was getting up, not once looking at the large Snow Leopard a few meters behind him who was breathing very hard (almost hyperventilating) probably out of anger. “I’m glad you returned here Dragon Warrior...I can finally redeem myself by defeating you...” Tai Lung said angrily while he slowly walked towards the Panda. Po was turned away from his opponent as he chuckled and said “it’s almost obvious why Master Oogway didn’t chose you to be the Dragon Warrior” Tai Lung angrily growled as he now ran towards the Panda to land another attack. Po then turned around and he blocked a barrage of attacks with his staff while moving back to avoid getting cornered. Once Tai Lung had lost his momentum, Po blocked the last attack with his staff and said in a mocking voice “those who would use their abilities to harm others should not be considered ‘Heroes’.” Tai Lung angrily roared and launched an extremely powerful double handed punch towards Po’s face. However Po ducked just in time to avoid the attack and quickly rolled behind his opponent and hit Tai Lung’s back with the back of his staff.

 

Even though this attack wasn’t very hard, it still sent Tai Lung to the ground face first. This only served to anger the Snow Leopard even more, he got up quickly and growled in anger as he stared at Po who seemed to be calm and composed. He then remembered one of his former Master Shifu’s to him when he was younger. “Once an opponent is stressed via anger or fear, they tend to make more mistakes, use this to your advantage” This was one of Shifu’s earlier lessons towards the Snow Leopard, he remembered when his ‘father’ supposedly cared for him. He then took several deep breathes and composed himself so that he could focus. “Always playing dirty aren’t you ‘Dragon Warrior’?” He said with a smirk that said ‘fight like a true warrior’. Po then laughed and said “i guess we should keep it even then.” He put his staff behind his back and said “now, where were we?” Tai lung then let out an evil grin and looked like he was about to say something when he was interrupted by the Panda. “Wait, that isn’t fair...Here.” Po said while he put his left arm behind his back. Tai Lung then growled and thought to himself ‘does that confident bastard really intend to fight me with one arm?!’ Po then let out a confident smile and signaled for his opponent to ‘come at him’. Tai Lung then said “you’ll regret that ‘Dragon Warrior’.”

 

As he lunged at Po to attack, he let out a barrage of strikes any of which would have seriously hurt his opponent. However Po easily blocked each attack, he seemed very calm while doing so, almost as if he was disappointed in the Snow Leopards skills. Tai Lung while attacking the confident Panda was also looking for a weakness he could exploit, but the only thing he could really see in the blur of his attacks was the Panda’s cloak dangling from his opponent’s shoulders, but how could he use that against him? After a second, Tai Lung had an idea, so he stopped the barrage of attacks and dodged a punch from the Panda’s right hand. He quickly grabbed the cloak by the end and put it over the Panda’s head to restrict the Dragon Warrior’s vision. His action gave him enough time to get the Panda in a headlock. “when I’m finished with you ‘Dragon Warrior’ I will defeat Oogway and escape this hell!” Tai Lung said provokingly towards Po who was held in a deadly headlock by his old rival. Po growled and then used much of his strength to headbutt Tai Lung in the chin. This made the Snow Leopard let go of Po clutching his chin in pain, giving Po the opportunity to elbow Tai Lung in the gut which looked to have really hurt the Snow Leopard sending him to the ground.

 

Po felt he had allowed this to go on long enough, so he grabbed his staff from his pack and hit the snow Leopard’s pressure points with his staff, paralyzing him from the shoulders down. In his fixed position Tai Lung muttered in defeat “go on, finish me ‘Dragon Warrior’.” Po then held his staff up above his defeated opponent’s neck and said “ ‘Tai Lung’ you were a worthy opponent, however I cannot allow you to continue on this destructive path.” Po then continued “so I’m afraid you leave me no choice.” Tai Lung closed his eyes and waited to accept his fate, but it never came. Po thrust his staff into the ground next to Tai Lung’s neck. Tai Lung looked beside him and saw that the Panda’s staff had slightly dug into the ground next to him. He just wondered why the Dragon Warrior had not finished him off, he was completely speechless.

“Not to long ago, I came face to face with a person who had caused me great pain, in fact they had destroyed my village and killed my mother when I was just a Cub.” Po said while looking at the ground where he had thrust his staff into. He continued “I had defeated this person in combat and had the chance to finish him off, but instead I let my past go and gave him a second chance.” After saying this Po took his staff out of the ground and used the top of it to deactivate the paralysis that he had placed Tai Lung into. He then said “he refused the second chance and ended up paying for his mistake” Tai Lung was in utter shock at what was happening which was ironic as he had just been unparalyzed, he was free now, however he made no attempt to fight back or escape. Po still continued speaking “now im giving you a second chance, please don’t waste it like he did”

 

The moment was then broken as both of their heads were turned toward Master Oogway who was now chuckling as he had left the tree branch where he had watched the entire fight ensue. He then spoke “Well done Dragon Warrior, you have once again proven that ‘It is who you chose to be that defines you’.” Po smiled and nodded. Oogway then looked down at Tai Lung who was still on the ground looking away from the Tortoise in disgust. Oogway then spoke to Tai Lung “Master Tai Lung, I hope you will accept the Dragon Warrior’s request.” Tai Lung spoke back in a purposely rude manner “or what? You’ll lock me up in a prison for 20 more years?” Po then spoke to the humiliated Leopard “you know it broke Shifu’s heart to send you to Chorh Gom, he still regrets it to this day.” Tai Lung then angrily snapped and said “If Shifu really cared for me then he wouldn’t have sided with HIM when I was supposed to become the Dragon Warrior!” Oogway just sighed at the Leopard’s behavior, he was disappointed in how Tai Lung had turned out. What had been Shifu’s pride and joy had become a menace to the world and he knew he was partly at fault for this. Oogway then replied “Master Tai Lung, do you know why I did not choose you to be the Dragon Warrior?”

 

Tai Lung didn’t even want to know the answer to this question, all he could feel right now was hate towards the Tortoise for ‘ruining his life’. After waiting a few seconds Oogway continued “I saw great darkness in you at the time, but I also saw light, there was balance. However I made a huge mistake and allowed the darkness to consume you.” He paused for a second, straightening his jaw and then continued “I am deeply sorry I failed you ‘Master Tai Lung’.” Tai lung was still looking away from Oogway trying to hide his emotions, most of his anger had faded away. He then noticed Po reaching out his hand as if to help him up from the ground. After thinking about it for a second he decided to take the Panda’s advice and accept his second chance, so he took po’s hand and got up from the ground. Po smiled and said “I’m glad you took the chance, I was beginning to think you wouldn’t for a second.” Tai Lung smiled and said “you know I’ll want a rematch soon right?” Po then laughed and said “You wouldn’t be the first person who wants a rematch with me.” Tai Lung responded “oh? And who else wants a rematch against ‘the mighty Dragon Warrior’.” Po smiled at the thought of the person who constantly asked for a rematch against him, he answered “trust me, you don’t want to know.” Tai Lung simply looked away and said “so what do I do now? If I can’t become the Dragon Warrior now, what can I do?” Oogway then responded “Your destiny is your own to control, you must choose which path to follow.” He then continued with a smirk on his face “However if you’d like, I can teach you some new techniques so you can give the Dragon Warrior a better fight during your inevitable rematch.” Tai Lung thought about it for a second, ‘should I really learn from the person who denied me my life’s work?’, ‘then again, this could help me defeat the dragon warrior when we have our rematch eventually’. “I would like that ‘Master’ Oogway” he said in a respectful way.

 

Po was happy to see that Tai Lung was beginning to change for the better, he had been so engrossed in rehabilitating his former rival that he hardly even notice that the sky had turned from a light orange to a dark red which probably meant that much time had passed since he arrived in the spirit realm. He then also remembered that he wanted to meet Tigress at the Dragon Grotto at 5:00. So he said to the others “well I’m glad everything is cleared up here, but I gotta go now, otherwise I’ll be in big trouble with an angry Tiger.” Both Oogway and Tai Lung nodded at the Panda and the Snow Leopard said “don’t forget about our rematch.” Po then nodded and used his staff in the golden river and drew a Yin-Yang pattern in the golden liquid which transported him back to the mortal realm back at the Pool of Sacred Tears. He then said to himself while grinning “I’m glad he took the second chance.”

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 5

 

Familiar Places

 

Po looked up at the sky, judging from where the sun was in the sky he presumed it was around 4:00, an hour before he had agreed to meet Tigress at the Dragon Grotto. He decided he would go to the Dragon Grotto right now since it would give him some time to meditate before she arrived.

 

**2 Hours Ago (Elsewhere)**

 

The Furious 5 had been training since morning outside of the training hall, earlier that day they had been practicing the chi techniques that had been taught by Shifu and Po. They had been learning to use their chi to enhance their physical abilities such as speed, agility and strength. However, they (mostly Monkey and Mantis) had gotten bored of merely practicing these abilities and wanted to spar against each other to test them in battle. “All right Mantis, you and I will spar this round.” Tigress said to Mantis with an evil grin. For the last hour she had wanted a reason to be able to destroy Mantis in a fight.

 

**1 Hour Earlier**

 

“So Tigress, why does Po want to meet with you later? Mantis said in a suggestive way as the Five were walking back to the training hall after eating lunch. Tigress rolled her eyes and ignored the insect, Mantis’ antics tended to annoy her, however she usually ignored his annoying rhetoric. He then said “you know, for a while in Gongmen city it seemed like you had a thing for him.” After he said this, the other three started giggling while looking at Tigress who’s cheeks had turned a slightly different shade of orange. This drove her over the top and she yelled “Mantis I swear, one more wise crack and losing your head will be the least of your concerns!” This silenced the insect as he he backed down, he didn’t want to feel the wrath of the master of the tiger style.

 

**1 Hour Later**

 

“I’m so dead aren’t I?” Said Mantis nervously. “That you are.” Tigress said with an evil grin. They were about to start sparing when everyone witnessed a bright wave of gold energy pulsate from a nearby mountain. The pulse of golden energy soared through the sky above them and Crane asked “what was that?” Viper then answered “that kind of looks like the energy made from the Wuxi finger hold...” They all gasped and said “Po!”

 

Monkey then said “we’d better make sure the big guy is okay!” The four of them nodded and were about to check on Po, however they were stopped in their tracks as they heard Tigress chuckle while smiling and say “I’m sure all of you know that the Dragon Warrior is more than capable of handling himself.” The others just looked at her with confused expressions, they then shrugged their shoulders and returned to their training.

 

**Present Time**

 

Po had been peacefully meditating for nearly half an hour in the cave of the Dragon Grotto, he was passing the time until Tigress would arrive. While he sat there he sensed many things, the water dripping from the top of the cave, the cool breeze from the mountains and also the light from the sky slowly fading from the sky. A few seconds later, he sensed the fragrance of Jasmine in the air. He knew the what the source of the fragrance was so he said while still in the meditative pose “Thank you for coming Tigress.” “I’m beginning to think that it’s impossible to sneak up on you anymore.” Tigress said sarcastically. Po chuckled and got up “You know, it’s ironic you should say that because just recently I was caught by surprise by someone.” Tigress then raised an eyebrow and said “Hmm? And who would that have been?” Po smiled and answered “it’s a long story, I’ll tell you on the way to our destination.” Tigress replied back “speaking of which, what kind of mission are we going on Po?” Po was still smiling as he said “you’ll find out soon, for now just follow me.” Tigress just nodded and followed Po down the mountain top.

 

Tigress followed Po into the village where they stopped near his father Mr Ping’s restaurant which was now called ‘Ping and Shan’s Noodles’. “I’m going in to get something to eat, I haven’t had anything since breakfast so I’m starving. Would you like anything?” Po said kindly. Tigress smiled and nodded “Thanks Po, just a Jasmine tea would be nice.” Po nodded while smiling back and said “by the way, whatever my father says do not believe it.” Tigress giggled and said “which one?” Po answered while looking nervous “either...” Ever since Po’s defeat of Kai the spirit warriror, Li Shan, Po’s biological father had decided to move into the valley of peace and now ran the noodle shop in town along with Mr Ping, Po’s other father. However the two Dad’s had a knack for embarrassing Po in ways he wasn’t always comfortable with, though no matter what Po loved his father’s very dearly.

 

“Po!” “Lotus!” Po’s Dad’s said in unison. They both came running up and hugged Po, almost making him fall in the process. Po laughed and said “Dad!, Dad! How are both of you?” The reunion lasted nearly 3 minutes with Tigress just watching in satisfaction, she loved how much Po cared about his family and friends.

 

Soon Li Shan spoke up “so Lotus, what brings you down to the village?” Po responded “Oh yeah! Tigress and I were just going out on a mission today and I was just starving so we decided to stop here.” Mr ping then chuckled and quoted Po “going out?” Po blushed slightly “not like that Dad!” Mr Ping and Li both laughed and Mr Ping said “I know Po, I’m just messing with you.” Po sighed and rolled his eyes “anyway can we get a bowl of dumplings and a Jasmine Tea please?” The Dad’s then replied in unison “of course Son.”

 

Po and Tigress sat down at one of the tables near the corner of the restaurant, when they sat down many villagers who had already been siting in the restaurant stood up and asked for the two warrior’s autographs. The two just obliged and signed the papers and merchandise from the lights of Pigs to Rabbits. Many of the villagers brought their children to meet the Dragon Warrior and the great master Tigress, the children of the valley were some of the most enthusiastic and cutest in all of China, they were greatly inspired by the Kung Fu Masters of the Jade Palace. In fact, many of them aspired to be Kung Fu Masters themselves. Po smiled and chuckled in his head and thought ‘not too long ago, I was like them’.

 

After the two had finished their meals, they said their goodbyes to Po’s fathers and went on their way. While on their way Po spoke to Tigress “Now’s probably a good time to tell you where we’re going Tigress.” Tigress nodded and kept listening. “We’re going to the Bao Gu Orphanage, I asked Shifu about it and he thought it to be a good idea.” Tigress stopped walking and looked at the ground with a slight frown on her face. Po expected such a reaction, he knew how this place brought her some bad memories, however it was here where she met master Shifu he taught her self control. “I know this place brings up some negative memories, but if you hadn’t been here, there’s a chance you never would have met Shifu or become a Kung Fu Master.” Po said optimistically while he grabbed Tigress’ paw and held it in his own. Tigress raised her head and said “okay Po, I guess you’re right...” Po smiled and said “good, now let’s be on our way, we’ve got some children to cheer up!” Tigress smiled lightly ‘he’s such a kind person, I’m glad I met him’ she thought while following her Panda friend up to the doors of the orphanage.

 

Po knocked on the door twice to make sure he was heard by the caretaker. Tigress had been looking at Po all the way up to the orphanage almost dreamily while he walked in front of her. ‘He’s matured so much since we first met.’ ‘But should I really tell him how I feel?’ Tigress then said while stuttering slightly “Po...I-I...There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for a while now.” Po turned around to look at his friend and said “sure, you know you can tell me anything.” She then replied “I...I...

 

“ **Creak”**

 

The door to the orphanage then opened and cut Tigress off from what she was about to say. A middle aged female Sheep spoke in a kind voice “Greetings and welcome to the Bao Gu Orphanage, how can I...Wait, Master Tigress? Dragon Warrior?” Po then greeted “Hello Madam, please call me Po. Master Tigress and I are here to entertain the children.” The female Sheep then said “Oh bless your heart Po, the children at the orphanage have long wanted to meet you and the other Kung Fu Masters.” Po replied while smiling “Very well, lets make some kids happy then!” The caretaker lead the two Masters into the reception area, Po said to Tigress “Sorry Tigress, I guess it’ll have to wait for a bit.” Tigress just nodded and kept following the Panda while thinking ‘Damnit, I was so close!’

 

After entering the Orphanage, many of the children ran up to the Dragon Warrior and Master Tigress. Most of them had heard some of the tales of the Kung Fu Warriors adventures and many of them even knew some of the moves that the masters would use in combat. Po remembered back when he was a teenager and he held the same passion of many of the children, he chuckled as the children horded near his feet and started asking for his attention. However, Po was used to this, as a Kung Fu teacher he taught many children from the valley the principles of Kung Fu. This was an arduous task as he had to convince many of the children that Kung Fu wasn’t solely about fighting, but rather excellence of self. Po demanded that the kids get in a large circle around him, he decided to tell the children some stories of the secrets of the Furious Five and also give each one of them an action figure of a different Kung Fu Master. He usually used these tales to tell the children how each of the Five mastered a skill that made them a better individual.

 

While Po was telling these stories Tigress noticed that there was a half open door at the end of the round room. As she approached the room, she noticed that it was dark and gloomy, there were cracks in the door as if it had been hit by a hammer. Only, when she looked inside, she saw a white male Tiger cub, who looked to be between 5-6 years old. He was wearing a small green tunic along with black pants. He was sitting down in the corner of the room holding his knees almost as if he was shielding himself from something. Tigress remembered back when she was an orphan at the orphanage, she remembered that she had once been an outcast here. It wasn’t a happy memory, she had been called ‘the Monster of Bao Gu’, this was because of her inability to control her strength at the time. She then remembered the time she met master Shifu for the first time. She had been in the exact position as the Tiger cub in front of her now.

 

Once Po finished telling his stories, the kids that had gathered around him had gotten tired and decided to go to bed. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Said Po as he approached his companion. She kept staring at the Tiger cub in the room with an emotionless face without answering the Panda. Po then said “are you alri...Oh.” He interrupted himself when he noticed that Tigress had been looking at a young white Tiger cub, this was almost déjà vu for both the masters as this had been exactly what Tigress had been like when she was a cub. Po then said to the cub “Umm hello?” To which the cub was startled and he said in a very anxious manner “Ah! Stay away from me I’m warning you!” He sounded like most children did, innocent and youthful, however something must have really been bothering the young Tiger cubas he seemed very afraid. Po then stepped back from the Cub slightly and said “Hey, don’t worry, I’m not here to harm you.” To which the cub responded “No, it’s not you I’m worried about, it’s me.” Po was taken back “Why are you worried about yourself?” he asked. The cub seemed to hesitate, but he answered “I don’t want to hurt you, all the other kids and the caretaker fear me because I break everything I touch...” Po then thought ‘wow, this really is déjà vu.’

 

He then replied “what’s your name kid?” The Cub looked at Po and said “everyone here calls me a ‘Monster’, but my real name is Hao Liang .” Po looked at Hao and said “what a wonderful name you have Hao! Now tell me, do you wish to be able to control your strength?” Hao responded as if he was almost pleading “yes! I’d do anything to stop being called a monster!” Po and Tigress both looked at each other and nodded. “Ok Hao, I’m going to help teach you to control your strength, with a little help of course.” Po said while looking at Tigress. Hao then began to smile for the first time “yay! I’m finally not going to be called a monster!” The Tiger cub said joyfully, however he accidentally jumped and hit the ground the floor a bit too hard and almost snapped a floor board. “Oops” he said with a slight chuckle. Po then laughed and said “you know Hao, you really remind me of someone else I know.” “I do?” Hao asked. Po smiled and said “and that person went on to become a brilliant, talented individual. They also happen to be one of my best friends.” Po looked at Tigress who was slightly blushing and smiling at Po’s compliment. Po then whispered something to Tigress to which she nodded and left the room.

 

After she had left Po got down closer to Hao and said “you know what Hao? Before I go, I believe you should have this.” Po pulled an action figure of Master Tigress out of the bag on his back and handed it to Hao. “Are you sure? I think I might break it by accident.” Hao said, unsure of weather he should accept the gift or not. Po replied “well I believe that you wont break it Hao.” Hao hesitantly reached his hand out and grabbed the action finger, but to his own surprise he did not break the action figure at all. He gasped and said “How?” Po smiled and responded “because someone believed in you Hao.” Hao couldn’t believe how he had not destroyed the action figure, everything he had held or touched before had broken into shreds. As it was getting very late in the day Po said “well I’m going to have to leave you now, but I will be back tomorrow at the same time to teach you how to control your strength, does that work for you?” “Yes it does!” Hao answered excitedly. To this, Po just nodded and left to go meet up with Tigress who had been waiting for him at the door of the Orphanage. “Wait!” Hao called out to Po. “Who are you?” Po looked back and said “just call me Po, and that is Tigress.” he pointed over towards the female Tiger. “Nice to meet you Po.” Hao said humbly. “It’s nice to meet you too Hao.” Po said with a smile.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 6

 

Feelings

 

“Now, before your mind becomes mine, I’d like you to know that this isn’t personal.” He looked for the one who had been speaking to him, but all he could see around him was darkness. The creature then spoke again “though I must say, you were quite a resilient one. However, darkness simply consumes all if given the chance, and you are no execption.” He still couldn’t see the one who was speaking to him, though he knew that they had to be close as their voice sounded very near. However as he looked around for the creature, he heard something that sounded like a lock being unlocked. He then heard another voice say “No! What are you going to do with me!” This voice sounded desperate and threatened. A small light in the room was lit and he saw a small brown Rabbit who looked very nervous. The Rabbit then looked up and said in a relieved manner “Oh! Dragon Warrior thank goodness! I’m saved!” He then heard the creature speaking with a hint of sarcasm “It really is a pity, the Dragon Warrior used to be a great hero, however it seems like he’s had a change of heart.” The creature said that last part with a bit of an evil chuckle. He then saw his vision become a dark shade of red, almost as if a piece of red tinted glass was placed in front of his eyes. He also began to move uncontrollably, he got off the ground not under his own control and walked over close to the little Rabbit. He then heard the Rabbit say nervously “Dragon Warrior?” The creature then began to laugh evilly and said “now ‘Dragon Warrior’ show this subject what it means to be truly powerful!” He then walked up beside the Rabbit who was now backing up in fear. The Rabbit then said “Dragon Warrior Please...” However he raised his arm up uncontrollably and sent his fist flying down towards the Rabbit, almost like he was going to pummel the Rabbit to death. “No!”

 

“Gasp!” Po woke up breathing heavily and sweating profusely. As he looked around he once again realized that he was safe in his room, he also noticed that the sun was just rising in the sky judging by how much light was entering the room. Once he caught his breath after a few seconds, his thoughts went back to the nightmare he had just had, ‘that creature from my dream I had yesterday was the same one in this dream.’ ‘And he mentioned darkness consuming everything again.’ ‘And why couldn’t I control any of my movements?’ ‘And...Did I kill that poor little Rabbit?’ Po was deeply distraught by these thoughts so he decided to go and train to take his mind off the nightmares. He put on his training clothes, grabbed his bag, slid his door open, and rushed out of the barracks in a hurry.

 

All the while, Tigress had been listening in from her room on the other side of the hall. She wondered what was troubling Po so much, this was the second time that week that he had woken up in a panic. So she decided to follow her friend once again, she put on her signature red training tunic with black training pants and exited her room to catch up to the Panda.

 

“ **POW!”**

 

“ **KAPOW!”**

 

“ **CRACK!”**

 

Po was in a forest at the south side of the Jade Palace, he had been there for nearly an hour training. Back when he and his friends were journeying to Gongmen city on a boat, Tigress and him had privately spoken early in the morning, during this conversation, Tigress had mentioned how she ‘used to train by striking the Ironwood Trees near the Palace’. Lately, whenever he was frustrated with anything, he would go to that spot and punch the Ironwood Trees until his knuckles would bleed. Normally he would eat when he was stressed, however this new method had proven to be quite useful as of late. After punching the trees for a few minutes he would begin to feel physical pain which would trigger a rush of Adrenalin which would ease the pain in his knuckles as well as the emotional pain. However it would also make him more prone to instinct as well as make him much more violent. Sometimes, after punching a tree for about ten minutes, he would get into a trance and begin hitting the tree much harder and also more quickly (Imagine Captain America hitting the sandbag in ‘The Avengers’) and occasionally he would hit the tree so hard that it would crack and fall over.

 

Right now his heart rate was very high, he was pouring sweat and he was pounding the tree in front of him very hard. These trees had abnormally strong fibers by nature, however Po was striking the tree so hard and so quickly that the tree cracked and fell over into the forest. This was the third tree he had broken during this training session, he had been especially stressed from his recent nightmares and so he punched the trees until he couldn’t feel anything, not even the blood dripping down his knuckles. He finally began to zone out of his trance and allowed his heart rate to decrease as he breathed in fatigue after the intense training he had just done. While allowing his heart rate to slow down, he went over to his bag that he had brought with him and he got out some of the white training tape that he kept in the bag. He began to wrap his wrists and his knuckles to avoid getting an infection and also to stop the bleeding. When he had nearly finished wrapping his last hand he heard a rustling sound in bushes behind. His mind still having a lot of Adrenalin, he got into a fighting stance, his heart rate sped up slightly and he started growling. “Show yourself! Now!” He said almost in an angry tone, he had only recently stopped punching the trees, so he was still prone to instinct. When no one answered him, he began to circle around while growling almost in a feral way. Once he had looked all around him he couldn’t see anyone around him he looked forward for a second, and then quickly turned around and sent his fist flying behind him. It stopped about an inch from his target’s face, however when he saw who the target was he immediately pulled his hand back. “I’m...I’m so sorry Tigress...” He said apologetically while hanging his head in shame, while looking away.

 

Tigress just sighed and asked “Po, why did you come here to train? What’s been bothering you lately?” Po didn’t usually want to share his problems with others, mostly because he felt it would place more stress upon them as well, however this time he thought he really should share what was wrong as he felt that by not knowing, Tigress would just feel worried anyway. “I’ve been having horrible nightmares lately Tigress...They seem so real, and each one of them is linked in some way. So I came here to numb the pain and stress.” Tigress didn’t seem surprised by this, she knew something had been bothering Po lately, however in the past he would always just eat to relieve his stress, but this was different, now he was punching the Ironwood Trees as she once did. “I can understand why that bothers you Po.” She said understandingly. Po nodded in agreement and finished wrapping his hand up. “So what were you going to tell me before the caretaker opened the doors yesterday?” He asked her as he grabbed his bag and joined her.

 

On the way back from the Orphanage the day before, he hadn’t gotten the chance to ask her about what she was going to say to him before they entered. On the way back, Po had told Tigress about the adventure he had in the spirit realm so he never got the chance to ask her about it. She seemed a bit trouble by the question. Po noticed this so he said “if you don’t want to talk about it that’s fi-” “Po, ever since we journeyed to Gongmen City I’ve felt different towards you.” She interrupted, then continued “when you were hit by that cannonball in Shen’s Warehouse I feared that I had lost you.” She began to tear up while saying this which didn’t go unnoticed by Po. “That’s why I pushed you out of the way the second time.” “I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I lost you Po. You mean a lot to me and I can’t stand to see you suffer.” She now looked down while tearing up, she was about to say something else but before she could she was embraced by the Panda in a tight hug. Neither said a word, they just held onto each other, both closed their eyes and Tigress rested her head on Po’s shoulder. Still embracing Tigress, Po said in a comforting manner “I had no idea you felt like this Tigress. Just know that I would never leave you, you also mean a lot to me.” He then released Tigress, who said “remember when we were on that boat to Gongmen City?” Po nodded and replied “I do.” “Well, while we were talking, you said something about me being so ‘hardcore that I can’t feel anything’. Well, before we were interrupted by the others, I was going to tell you that even though I may seem unbreakable and hardcore, I still feel many things.” She continued with a smile “Ever since you came to the Palace, I’ve changed, I have felt more happiness and more joy than I ever have. And even though I may not express all my emotions, I still feel them.” Po had never seen Tigress so emotional before, in fact, he could hardly remember the last time she had even shown emotion at all.

 

“Yesterday, you once again proved why you’re rightfully the Dragon Warrior. That Tiger cub was in the same position that I was at his age, and you gave him hope.” Po then smiled and looked away “you give me too much credit, I’m just trying to help him as Shifu helped you, it really wasn’t that big of a de-.” But before he could finish, he felt Tigress’ lips pressed against his, he was absolutely shocked at first, but he recovered quickly leaned into the kiss even going as far as to pick Tigress up off the ground by her back. After a couple of seconds, they broke apart for air and Po let her down and said “wow...” His cheeks had turned bright red and his jaw had dropped. “I knew you were full of surprises but to be honest, that’s not how I thought my first kiss would go.” he said with a slight chuckle still trying to comprehend what had just happened. She giggled at this and replied “I try to be unpredictable when I can, call it a tactic.” She said with a wink. “Oh, and by the way Po.” “Yes Tigress?” She then gave him a playful punch in the shoulder which he was not expecting. “Ow! What was that for!?!” Po said in pain. “That’s for worrying me for the last two months.” She said with an evil grin. Po then joked while clutching his shoulder “You know you’re taking this ‘unpredictable’ thing way too seriously.” To this, she giggled and said “just promise me next time to tell us what’s bothering you Po, I care deeply about your well being and...I love you.” Po simply nodded and embraced her in another warm hug. “I love you too.” He said tenderly while looking at the ground. Tigress just closed her eyes and began to purr into Po’s chest, which didn’t go unnoticed by her Panda friend.

 

However, unbeknownst to them, they were being watched by two prying eyes. Viper had followed Tigress shortly after she had left the student barracks, she knew how attached the female Tiger was to the Panda. And ever since she had seen how cute the two looked at the docks of Gongmen City, she had wanted them to become a couple. As she watched them in their romantic moment she giggled to herself and quietly said “They’re so cute together!” Of course, she would never tell anyone about this, she respected her friends’ privacy, however she knew she was going to have to talk to Tigress about this.

 

“The morning gong will go off soon, don’t you think we should return soon?” Po said still hugging Tigress tightly. “Okay, that would probably be for the best, we wouldn’t want the others to wonder where we are.” He let her down and she said “but I’ll expect you to meet me at the summit of the Peach Tree shortly after noon.” “I’ll be there.” He said with a smile. “Now let’s get going, we wouldn’t want the others to find out what we were doing.” he joked. Tigress just giggled and said “you never change.” As she rested her head on his shoulder while holding his hand on the way back to the Palace.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 7

 

Regret and Forgiveness

 

Tigress meditated peacefully at the summit of the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, for half an hour she used the tranquility of this sacred place to relax and ponder many of her thoughts. At the present moment she was thinking about what Po had told her earlier, ‘they seem so real, and each one of them is linked in some way’. She had been worried for Po for several months now, initially it had been everyone who had been worried for the Panda, however it was apparent to her that she was the one who was the most concerned. Her thoughts then went back to the moment that she shared with the Panda earlier, Tigress had never been one to express her feelings much less admit them to someone else. In truth, she hadn’t really admired the Panda when he first came to the Palace, rather she had despised him. In her mind he was just a lucky fool who had no real talent, In fact she not only thought these things, but she also expressed them...

 

**Flashback to KFP 1 in the Jade Palace Barracks**

 

*“Master Tigress! I didn’t mean to wake you, just a-” Po said apologetically before he was interrupted by the female Tiger “You don’t belong here.” She said in a cold and rude manner. “Ah ya. Ya of course, cause this is your room-” He began to get a bit nervous as she approached him. “I mean, you don’t belong in the Jade Palace, you’re a disgrace to Kung Fu, and if you have ANY respect for who we are and what we do, you will be gone by morning.” She said before she closed her doors in his face.*

 

**Back in the present time**

 

“I can’t believe I was so rude to him, and despite what I said, he stuck with it and proved everyone wrong… He proved me wrong...” She whispered to herself with a sad expression on her face. “He deserves better people in his life than m-” However before she could finish, a strong voice interrupted her and said “I have everyone that I could ever want in my life, and I also believe in allowing the mistakes of the past to wash away.” Tigress then quickly turned around and hugged Po, tears streaming down her eyes as she said “I’m so sorry Po.” Po simply embraced the female Tiger and whispered into her ear “It’s alright Tigress, besides I can’t really blame you for saying those things.” “But I was selfish. And cold. I should have at least given you a chance first!” She countered. “But here I came, right as Oogway was just about to choose you as the Dragon Warrior. A Panda, with no experience in Kung Fu, or any martial arts for that matter.” He countered back. “Don’t blame yourself for what happened Tigress, after all, master Oogway said many times that ‘there are no accidents’ and I believe him. It wasn’t an accident that I came here, it wasn’t an accident that you blocked that cannonball for me, and it wasn’t an accident that we met each other.” Tigress still hugged Po as he said this, listening to the Panda’s words gave her comfort and she began to feel slightly less guilty, but only a little. “You know, when I first came to this place, I had initially come here to eat, at the time when I would eat when I was stressed. Then Oogway came to speak to me and he told me ‘Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why they call it the present’.” He let go of Tigress and looked in to her eyes “I have forgiven you, now it is time for you to forgive yourself.” “I guess I can do that.” She said hopefully while looking into his eyes.

 

“Now why did you want me to meet you here today?” Po questioned. In truth Tigress had wanted to speak to Po about the Tiger cub they had met at the Orphanage the day before, however she now wanted to address something else with her Panda friend. “Po, what do you think of us being more than just friends?” She said now looking off into the mountains in the distance. Po stood there dumbstruck, he could not believe what his Tiger friend was saying. “Are you suggesting what I think you are?” Po nervously questioned. Tigress now began to blush slightly, she wasn’t very experienced in confessing her feelings to others, in fact she wasn’t experienced at all. “Po, it’s alright if you don’t want to, but I just thought it could be an option.” She replied. “Tigress I don’t know if you knew this, but I’ve had a crush on you for years now. Ever since I first saw you and the Five defeat Boar I not only fell in love with not only the ideal of Kung Fu, but I also fell in love with a strong, determined and beautiful Tiger Master.” He said smiling and blushing slightly. “You’re such a sweet person Po, this is exactly what I love about you, your compassion.” Tigress said dreamily. Po just smiled and took a seat beside Tigress who was still looking towards the mountains.

 

“It’s a beautiful view isn’t it?” She said happily. Po simply nodded and replied “maybe so, but it doesn’t compare to you.” Tigress giggled and said “Charmer.” Po chuckled and kept looking towards the mountains, he then felt Tigress lean her head on his shoulders. “To answer your question from earlier, I would love to be more than ‘just friends’.” Po said with a hint of suggestiveness. “Although I know that Shifu might be a bit skeptical, and if I ever did something wrong he’d have my head for it.” Po said while chuckling. Tigress simply laughed and said sarcastically “and here I thought you didn’t consider him to be your Master anymore” Po laughed at this and Tigress continued “well I’m glad you want us to be together like I do Po.”

 

**Not to far from the Peach Tree Summit**

 

“What do you think they’re talking about now?” said an impatient simian said to the rest of the furious five who were watching the two what they would call ‘lovebirds’ from afar. “All I know is that you guys really should back off and give them their privacy.” Viper said trying to reason with the others. “Privacy? I can’t imagine what they would do in private...” Mantis joked, this earned him a swat on the head by Viper’s tail. “Ow! What was that for?” the insect complained. “That was for your vulgar comment Mantis.” Viper replied. Crane then interjected “I’m with Viper on this one guys, we really shouldn’t spy on them, I’m sure you guys wouldn’t like for people to to the same to you.” Monkey seemed to have ignored what Crane had just said as he said “I bet 50 almond cookies that Po won’t have the guts to ask her out!” Mantis then laughed and said “Have you seen them? I bet 100 cookies that he asks her out right now! They look like they need to share a room!” This earned him yet another swat on the back of the head by Viper. “Ow! Why do you keep doing that?!” He said seeming to think it was unfair. “Whatever, you perverts can keep watching them but Crane and I are going back to the grounds to train.” Viper said as her and Crane left. Once they left, Mantis looked back at Monkey and said “wanna shake on it bud?” Monkey replied “you bet, I’ll be drowning in cookies for an entire month after this is over!”

 

**Back at the Peach Tree Summit**

 

“You know Tigress, I’ve been thinking on how to train Hao on how to control his strength, and I’d like if you would come with me to help train him. After all, you had similar training when you were his age.” Po said as he still looked towards the mountains in the distance. “I’d love to Po, plus it’ll give us more time to be together.” She said with a slight purr as she leaned her head on Po’s shoulder. He simply smiled as he took Tigress’ hand in his own and said “I love you.”

 

**6 Hours later at the Pool of Sacred Tears**

 

As Po looked at his reflection in the waters of the Pool of Sacred Tears he thought of the moments that him and Tigress had shared that day, he also thought of the progress that he had made in teaching Hao to control his strength. ‘I can’t believe she feels the same way about me that I have felt towards her for years’ ‘and she wants me to be her soulmate?’ ‘this was the best day I’ve had in months!’ He thought happily. ‘I’m so proud of Hao, he deserves the best in his life.’ To train Hao earlier, he had brought some light cloths and instructed Hao to attempt to hit the cloths as hard he could, however he told Hao to imagine his punch not damaging the cloth at all. As many things go, Hao failed the first attempts punching right through the cloth accidentally, however after many practice attempts, Hao took a hard punch at the cloth and his hand bounced off without damaging the cloth at all. The thing that impressed Po the most however, was that over the day that Hao had been alone at the orphanage, he hadn’t damaged the action figure of Master Tigress at all. This increased the Tiger cub’s confidence greatly, and made Po very proud of his new pupil.

 

Looking back at his reflection in the water Po noticed something, the hair on his forehead had darkened slightly which made it look like he had a widows peak, the hair on his chin had also grown supstantially making a ducktail beard. As with most Panda’s Po knew in China, they did not like their facial hair to grow very long and so they shaved regularly, however with all the stress he had been under this week, Po seemed to have forgotten to shave for the whole week. This was the first time since he was a teen that his hair had gotten this long, his father always preferred to have a ‘clean shaven waiter’ attending to the orders of the customers back when he worked in his father’s restaurant. After a while, it had become second nature to shave, however looking at himself now he didn’t dislike the look, it made him look wise and also more like a warrior.

 

“A Yuan (Yuan is Chinese currency) for your thoughts Dragon Warrior?” Said a voice behind him which startled him slightly. “Oh, Shifu! Forgive me but I wasn’t expecting to see you up here at this hour.” Po responded respectfully to the wise Red Panda. “I see, I came up here to speak to you about a couple of things, do you have a minute?” The Red Panda questioned. “Absolutely, what would you like to talk about?” Po answered. “I would like to ask how your second trip to the Orphanage went, Tigress told me that Hao improved significantly in just a short time, is that true?” He said. Po smiled and responded “he is definitely a fast learner, I’ve been teaching him self belief and restraint and he seemed to catch on quickly. He is beginning to gain confidence and it brings me great pride to see him content in his learning.” Shifu smiled slightly “very good Po, you truly are a great teacher. I am sure you know that I once taught Tigress to control when she was in a similar position as this little one. However I hope you do not make the same mistake that I made when teaching Tigress, I refrained from showing emotion towards her and in doing that I deprived her of the one thing she needed most from me, love and care.” Shifu now looked distraught, no doubt he was reflecting on his life choices. “Shifu, you did no such thing, after all, Tigress has become one of the most renowned Kung Fu Masters of all time thanks to mainly your teachings.” Po tried to counter Shifu’s negativity. “I understand that Panda, however, there are many things that she does not understand in this world because of my lack of proper parenting, did you ever wonder why she only ever ate those tofu cubes for the longest time? Or why she rarely laughs or smiles?” Shifu recollected. “That may be so, but I can’t imagine what would have happened had you not taught her to control her strength and adopt her from the Orphanage” Po countered again. Shifu couldn’t help but smile, no matter how many flaws someone had, the Panda always managed to see the good in people. “Oogway truly did choose the right person to be Dragon Warrior Po, I couldn’t be more proud that you were once my student.”

 

Po nodded and suddenly remembered that he had something he also wanted to speak about with Shifu “That reminds me Shifu, the other day you asked me if it was possible for me to take you to the spirit realm and back.” “Oh yes. I nearly forgot about that, did you manage to speak to Master Oogway Dragon Warrior?” The Red Panda answered enthusiastically. “I did and he told me that it is possible for anyone to go to the spirit realm as long as they believe that they can, however you might want to bring your staff with you just in case.” Po replied. The staff that he had referred to was Shifu’s wooden staff, which had been past on to him by his former master Oogway, the staff was said to be constructed with the wood of the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom to ward off evil. During the battle against Tai Lung, the staff had been snapped in two, however Po had repaired the staff for his former master. “Oh and by the way...There will most likely be someone waiting for you there.” Po told Shifu as he began to leave the Pool of Sacred Tears. “If by that you mean Oogway is waiting for me than I already know.” the Red Panda replied. “No, I wasn’t talking about Oogway.” Po said with a slight grin. “Then who?” The Red Panda questioned curiously. “You’ll find out when you get there.” Po said still with a grin on his face. “Oh, before you leave Dragon Warrior, I’d like you to know that you and Tigress have my blessing.” Shifu said with a bit of a chuckle. “Wait, What? How did you k-” Po said as Shifu cut him off “Know? I have my ways Dragon Warrior.” The old Red Panda said as he chuckled.

 

**Meanwhile In the Jade Palace Student Barracks**

 

Tigress was returning to the Palace Barracks after having helped Po to train Hao at the Bao Gu Orphanage, as she strolled through the hallways she reminisced about the moments she had shared with the Panda that day. Thinking about Po made her heart feel warmer, she couldn’t believe that Po had actually wanted to be her soulmate, she hadn’t known that he held feelings for her for so long, if she was honest with herself she couldn’t believe how well the whole situation worked out. As she was returning to her room in the student barracks, she was stopped in the hallway by Viper who whispered “girl talk, now.”

 

So Tigress nodded and entered Viper’s Room, Viper’s room was very beautiful, she used her shelves and tables to display the many ribbons that she used to use when she ribbon danced as a child. As they entered the room, Viper closed the doors to the room, even though the girl’s rooms were on the opposite side of the hallway from the guys, they still didn’t want anyone to hear them. “Oh my Gods! You two looked absolutely adorable together!” Viper quietly said in a very exited voice. Tigress just smiled and said “something tells me that you wanted us to be together from the start.” Viper then chuckled and said “can you blame me though? He’s perfect for you!” Tigress kept smiling and dreamily said “that, he is.” “I can’t believe it! Pretty soon we’ll be planning the wedding and-” Viper said before she was interrupted “okay Viper, it’s a little early to be talking about that.” Tigress getting a little annoyed with where Viper was going with the conversation. “Okay Tigress, but just remember that Crane loves preparing weddings, so if you ever-” Viper was once again interrupted by Tigress “don’t remind me of that.” Tigress rolled her eyes while putting her palm on her face almost trying to forget a bad memory. “Anyway, has he asked you out yet?” Viper asked. “He has.” Tigress replied. If Viper could jump for joy, she would, except for the fact that she didn’t have legs to jump with. This news made her overjoyed for her ‘sister’ as Viper had always wanted for Tigress to find the right person for her. “Wow! Already!? When will you guys go?” Viper asked excitedly. Tigress just chuckled at how engrossed the female Snake was in her personal life and said “Tomorrow afternoon, he wants to take me to some place he used to visit when he was young. At least, that’s what he told me.” Viper just squealed like a teenage girl and said “Oh my Gods, this is so awesome! My sister has finally found the man she loves and they’re going out on their first date tomorrow!!!” Tigress just laughed and said “you focus way too much on my life Viper, how about we talk about you and Crane?” At this, Viper began to blush “Wha-What? I don’t know what you’re talking about...” Viper said nervously. “Don’t worry Viper, I wont tell a soul.” Tigress said with a wink. To which Viper mouthed a ‘thank you’. As Tigress got up to leave she went to slide open the door, however she was interrupted by Viper who said “Wait up Tigress, I have something for you.” She slithered over to her cabinet and picked up a flower bulb with her tail and handed it to Tigress, it was a beautiful Tiger Lily flower. “Thank you Viper! It’s beautiful!” Tigress thanked her reptilian friend. “No problem, I’m sure Po will like it on you.” Viper said reassuringly. Tigress simply smiled and exited Viper’s room to go and get some rest for the next day.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 8

 

Revelations

 

“Good work ‘Dragon Warrior’.” An ominous voice spoke behind him. All he could see was a bloodstained dirty stone floor with torches lighting up a wall which had what looked to be shackles which seemed to be broken through sheer force. “I am glad ‘you now see things my way, literally’.” The creature said as it laughed evilly. “Now that you and I see eye to eye, how about we go to somewhere familiar to you?” It said as it chuckled. His body then forced him up out of the kneeling position that he had been in, however he wasn’t in control of his muscles or bones, they seemed to move on their own. The creature then spoke once again and said “Dragon Warrior? I’d like a proper tour of the valley of peace if you please.” It spoke in a sarcastic tone. He then moved his arm up without being to control his movement, then his hand punched right through the concrete wall in front of him with ease. When the rock wall collapsed, he saw blinding light, but beyond the blinding light, there was a large mountain in the distance with a building built on the top with a bunch of smaller buildings at the base of the mountain. As he saw the mountain from afar, he herd a different voice call out his name “Po?” He knew that voice, it sounded like… “What a shame, they will all soon have to see what the mighty Dragon Warrior is really made of.” The creature once again spoke with an evil laugh at the last part. He then heard the familiar voice call once again “Po!?” But before he could look where the voice was coming from, his vision became a shade of dark red and his eyes began to close. “Like I said before Dragon Warrior, **‘this isn’t personal’**.” The creature said. And then…

 

“Gasp!” Po once again awoke uneasy from his nightmare, however he wasn’t in as much of a panic as the other times when he had awoken from his slumber. This time he was slightly more relaxed, but only a little, he was still trying to catch his breath and grasp what had happened. When he caught his breath after a couple of seconds, he said to himself quietly “who or what is that creature!? This is the third time I’ve had that same creature in my dreams. And why were my limbs and body moving without my control!?” He said frustratingly. Po was deeply distraught by this, he didn’t know why these dreams were consistently recurring or who the creature was who constantly spoke to him as if he was a pawn in some evil scheme. When he looked at his back wall in his room, he noticed that it was nearly 5:00 in the morning judging by how much sunlight was entering the paper wall. He figured since he was already up, he would go and train to take his mind off the dreams. And so he put on his training clothing and took his jade staff along with him while he exited his room quietly in order not to wake the others. However when he went to close his door after opening it, he was startled by a voice that said “going somewhere handsome?” He then stumbled across his words “Oh T-Tigress, I didn’t see you there. Why are you up so early?” “I heard you wake up in a panic once again, is everything alright?” She replied worriedly. “Yeah, just another nightmare, I’m fine though.” He said trying not to worry his new girlfriend. “Was this one related to the others?” She asked. “Yes, but that’s about all that I am willing to share about it.” He responded. She wasn’t happy about this, this was the third time it had happened this week, however she respected Po’s request and decided to drop the subject. “So, are you going to go train now?” She had a feeling he would go to train at the 1000 steps to the Palace, or that he would go to the Iron Wood Tree forest behind the Palace, however she didn’t expect him to say what he said next. “Actually, since you’re already out here, I was thinking we could spar for a couple of rounds in the Training Hall. I tend to learn more from fighting opponents rather than punching inanimate objects.” Po said enthusiastically. Tigress delightfully accepted her friend’s offer “that would be great Po, I haven’t had the pleasure of beating up anyone since I destroyed Mantis the other day.” She said that last part with a bit of a chuckle. “Who ever said you’d be beating anyone up?” Po said while quietly laughing. “Okay, now you’re in trouble ‘Dragon Warrior’.” Tigress said with an evil grin. “Oh really? Then let’s see what you’ve got ‘Kitten’.” Po said with a playful smile. She then laughed and shook her head saying “okay then, how about we make a wager like Monkey and Mantis always do? The loser has to do any dare the winner wants them to do...Do we have a deal?” Tigress held her hand out for a handshake. “Deal.” Po said shaking Tigress’ hand. “But I’m warning you ‘my dear’, I will not go easy on you.” Po said with a playful smile. “Good, I always prefer a real challenge.” She said in a confident tone.

 

Tigress then went back to her room to get changed into her blue training vest, she had previously been wearing her red vest, however she knew that Po preferred her blue vest to her red one, and if she could distract him in any it would benefit her. She then left to go and meet Po in the training hall where he was waiting, she was secretly really exited to spar against her new boyfriend, she always enjoyed sparring against him, mostly because he used to be a great punching bag since he wouldn’t fight back as much against his friends. But now, she was looking forward to seeing how much he had improved over the past couple of months of his training. As she entered the training hall she looked over to where Po was wrapping his wrists in white training tape, however she wasn’t focused on his wrist wrappings. ‘Gods, Viper was right...He really does look hot...’ She thought while examining the now shirtless Panda in front of her ‘damnit, I can’t let this distract me, if I lose, Po will get to make me do any dare that he wants me to.’ She shook her head to try to get herself out of her trance. Little did she know that Po noticed this, he then said “something bothering ya?” She shook her head “not at all, just getting ready to kick your ass.” She said with a smile.

 

**30 minutes later in the Dinning Room**

 

Tigress was in the middle of swallowing a cup of raw rice. Unfortunately for her, she had lost her sparring match against Po, and since they had agreed their bet, she had to do any dare that Po demanded. When shortly after becoming the Dragon Warrior and defeating Tai Lung, Po had wanted to prove to his friends that he could cook rice by eating it raw and then drinking boiling water. As could be expected this plan failed miserably as he quickly spit all the water out after it made contact with his tongue. Now he was daring Tigress to do the same thing. “Okay, now here’s the pot of boiling water...Try not to burn your tongue” Po said as he laughed out loud. The other four members were also watching while laughing, they also remembered the time when Po tried this incredibly stupid idea. They had woken up when they heard Po and Tigress sparring and decided that they had to watch. “Come on Tigress! You can do it!” Viper and Crane yelled in sync. “Yeah come on Tigress! I bet 25 almond cookies that you could do this so don’t let me down!” Monkey yelled while laughing. “There’s no way She can do it! If even Po can’t do it than how can Tigress?” Mantis said. Tigress took the pot of boiling water from Po’s hands and poured some of it into her mouth. She then closed her mouth ‘no wonder Po couldn’t do this before...This is painful as fu-’ she thought as she struggled to keep her jaw closed. “Holy crap! She’s actually going to do it!” Said Monkey. “Wait, Monkey, you never did pay up on our last bet that Po was going to ask Tigress out!” Mantis blurted out without warning. This earned him surprised looks from everyone except Tigress, who accidentally spit most of the boiling water out and began to choke. “Tigress! Are you alright!?” Said Viper worriedly. “Cough-Cough-Yeah I ju-Cough-Cough” Everyone began to panic “someone do something!” Crane panicked. “Everyone stand back!” Po exclaimed as he knelt down beside Tigress who was coughing and chocking uncontrollably. Po then grabbed both of his own hands by the opposite sides and extended his right hand to heal Tigress using his Heroes Chi. Within a second, his hand began to glow bright gold and it began to radiate his Chi energy. All the others just watched in awe as the Panda rapidly healed the damage that the boiling water had done to the female Tiger’s esophagus and her lungs. In seconds, Tigress began to stop coughing and her breathing became regulated which came to everyone’s relief, especially Po’s.

 

“How do you feel?” Po said to Tigress as she began to rise from the ground. “Like nothing ever happened, how did you do that?” Tigress asked, puzzled at how quickly Po had healed her. “Do what?” He said not knowing what she meant. “How did you heal me so quickly? I can barely heal a wilting flower with my Chi and you just healed my lungs in seconds.” She responded. “Oh, that’s what you meant! Well, the output of you Chi can be dictated by your connection to the person or thing that you are using your Chi on. I’ll teach you all how to be able to master this soon.” Po replied. “Oh, and sorry about what happened, this was my fault.” Po said apologetically to Tigress. “No it’s not your fault, I was the one who came up with the dare idea so don’t worry about it, besides I am fine now. But as for you Mantis!” Tigress pivoted topics and gave the Insect a death glare. “Remember when I said ‘losing your head would be the least of your problems’? Well now it is!” Tigress angrily as she rose from the ground (probably to destroy Mantis). As she stood up she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder “Easy there Tigress, he was only trying to get under your skin, don’t mind him.” Po said with a chuckle. Mantis then sighed in relief and said “thanks Po, she really needs to lighten up!” “I wouldn’t be celebrating Mantis, I don’t mind you making jokes, but try to refrain from making jokes about people’s personal life.” Po said sternly to the insect, which earned him an obedient nod from the arthropod. “Now, does anyone want to help me clean up this mess?” Po asked to all the others. The others agreed to help, and they cleaned up the mess quickly.  


“So about our date today, I was thinking that we could meet at the Palace gates before we go.” Po quietly spoke to Tigress on the way back to their rooms. “That sounds good Po, I’ll be there, oh and thanks again for saving me.” Tigress said and gave Po a kiss on the cheek as she walked to her room. “Think nothing of it...” Po mumbled to himself while staring off at his feline friend who walked gracefully to her room, swaying her tail from side to side. “Don’t stare too long Romeo.” A voice said from behind, this broke Po out of his trance as he shook his head trying to focus. “Monkey, didn’t anyone ever tell you not to eavesdrop?” Po responded to the simian who was laughing. “Master Shifu may have mentioned it.” Monkey replied sarcastically. “But you gotta admit bro, you’re one lucky man!” Monkey playfully elbowed Po and winked. “I sure am...” Po said as he just starred at the end of the hallway. “Anyway, we all hope you guys have a great date night!” Monkey said enthusiastically. “About that, how did you all know that I asked Tigress out?” Po asked. “Oh...Uhhh...Actually, it’s a long story, but to be honest I believed that you wouldn’t ask her out, I even bet 100 almond cookies on it! I’m regretting that bet every second now...” Monkey ranted. “Let me guess...Mantis?” Said Po seeming slightly annoyed with the antics of the simian and the insect. “Yep.” Monkey said. “When are you going to stop betting those almond cookies? I swear your gambling is out of control! Besides, how is Mantis even able to eat that many cookies? Hes like half the size of one!” Po said that last part with a chuckle. “I heard that!” Mantis loudly said from his room. “That was the point!” Po joked to his insect friend. “Anyway, have fun on your date bro!” Monkey said cheerfully. “Thanks Monkey.” Po replied as he left to go to his own room.

 

**4 Hours later at the Jade Palace (At the top of the 1000 steps)**

 

Po patiently waited at the foot of the Jade Palace gates, he was waiting for Tigress eagerly. For their date, he had worn one of his nice green tunics with the golden dragon pattern along with his black training pants, he had also worn his large golden cloak which made him look quite sophisticated and elegant. He had also brought along his staff, he believed it would make an excellent walking stick as well as look nice along side him. Just then he noticed Tigress descending from the Palace, she wore her golden robe with Lotus plant designs (Po’s favorite of her outfits) and her signature black training pants. However she was also wearing a beautiful orange Tiger Lily flower on top of her left ear, it especially caught Po’s eye as it reminded him of the lotus flowers that Viper would wear as well. “You look absolutely gorgeous.” Po complimented. “You too handsome.” She replied back. “I assume Viper helped you out with that?” Po pointed at the Tiger Lily flower on her ear. “She thought you’d like it, does it look alright?” Tigress asked. “It looks as beautiful as the person who wears it.” Po commented. Tigress blushed slightly, though not enough to see through her orange and black fur. “You’re so sweet Po.” She said with a smile. Po smiled and replied “shall we?” we asked as he held out his hand for her to hold. She took his hand and said “Of course, ‘Lotus’.” Po was stuned at what she had called him, the only one who ever called him by that name was his father Li Shan. “I know, I know, it’s a childish name...” He said as smiled and looked at the ground. “I think it suites you, after all the Lotus flower represents purity.” She said in a kind tone. Po just smiled and the two walked down the 1000 steps holding each other’s hand.

 

Once they passed the bamboo forests at the edge of the village, they reached a clearing, it was a very open meadow with a large pond in the middle of the area. The sky was a bright yellow which complemented the steamy clouds in the air, this made for a very vibrant sky, the mountains in the distance were faded into the horizon due to the distance they were from the area, the Jade Palace was still visible from where the two were as it was perched on a nearby mountain. Around the pond, there was long grass along with many beautiful flowers and some small trees. “Po. How did you know about this place?” Tigress questioned. “I found it while looking for cooking ingredients for my father’s restaurant, in fact, this area grows many of the ingredients in the noodle soup dish, things like bok choy, garlic and even ginger.” Po answered. “But I don’t only come here for the scenery, I also used to come here when carving my action figures of the Furious Five.” Po finished. “It’s beautiful!” Tigress said while still looking at the meadow in awe.

 

The two just sat peacefully in the meadow for hours holding hands, speaking about various topics from the lights of Monkey’s and Mantis’ gambling addictions to how far Hao was progressing in his training. “Tigress, I just have one question.” Po said abruptly. “Yes Po? What would that be?” Tigress asked. Po looked away at the sun setting over near the mountains as he said “why me? There are so many men who you could choose, and you chose me. Why?” Tigress also looked towards the sunset, she couldn’t understand why Po asked this question. “Po, there isn’t another man in China-no, the world that I would rather be with! You’re funny, you’re the kindest person I know and you’re actually very handsome...” She said. Po stopped staring at the sunset and looked to his left where Tigress was sitting beside him holding his left hand. “I don’t know what to say...I mean, this is a dream come true for me, the love of my life sitting down next to me while watching the sunset across the mountains.” Po said happily. “I thought your dream was to become a master of Kung Fu?” Tigress said giggling. “It was, I guess I checked that one off the bucket list a while ago.” Po jokingly replied. Tigress then leaned her head against Po’s shoulder and said “thanks” Po then raised an eyebrow and asked “for what?” “For being perfect.” She replied and she kissed him on his cheek.

 

What seemed like an eternity, the two sat at the meadow together, and neither of them wanted it to end. However unbeknownst to them, a threat was looming nearby which would quickly create chaos and disorder in the valley of peace.

 

**Half a Mile away at the Bao Gu Orphanage**

 

**Knock! Knock!**

 

“Okay I’m coming! Just wait a second!” Mrs Yu the caretaker of the Bao Gu orphanage called out to the person knocking on the doors outside of the building as she quickly made her way over to the doors. She arrived at the door and opened it to be greeted by several figures, one was a large silver back Gorilla as well as a large reptilian (Wearing a similar outfit to Scorpion from Mortal Kombat) with a prosthetic red eye which looked to be made of a stone of some kind (probably a Ruby or Garnet) which she guessed was a Komodo Dragon. “O-Oh! H-Hello...Welcome to the Bao Gu orphanage.” The caretaker nervously stuttered in her speech, this wasn’t uncommon for her species, goats and sheep were known to stutter sometimes, however this time it was out of fear. The caretaker had never seen such animals in the valley, in fact she had never seen them in any other part of China that she had visited. The caretaker quickly cleared her throat and said “How can I help you?” She said trying to seem less anxious than before. The Komodo Dragon then spoke in intimidating but respectful tone “Hello Madam, you see, we came here to find the Dragon Warrior, and we heard that he visits here quite often, would you happen to know where we could find him?”

 

“Oh yes! The Dragon Warrior does visit the Orphanage a lot, especially recently! But I’m afraid he won’t be visiting today, he said he had something important to do.” The caretaker said. Then before either of them could continue, they were interrupted by a young and innocent voice “did somebody say ‘Dragon Warrior’?” Hao Liang had heard a conversation at the front door of the orphanage, usually the conversations that he would overhear would be about some other kid in the orphanage being adopted or something he wouldn’t care about. However when he heard the words ‘Dragon Warrior’ he got exited and rushed to see what was going on. When he got to the scene he saw the caretaker as well as a towering Gorilla, and a strange reptile creature which had a fake red eye. He was slightly disapointed that the Dragon Warrior wasn’t really there “Oh, I thought that Po was here, sorry Mrs Yu.” He said apologetically, while hanging his head in shame. “Oh don’t worry Hao, just get back to your room please.” Mrs Yu said kindly. Hao bowed and also apologized to the ‘guests’ “I’m sorry I bothered you mister.” The Komodo Dragon responded again an intimidating but also respectful tone “It’s not a problem ‘young one’, and if I may, where did you get that ‘figurine’?” Hao looked down at the action figure of Master Tigress that he had in his right hand “Oh, you mean this action figure? The Dragon Warrior gave it to me himself!” The young Tiger cub said enthusiastically. “Oh, how fascinating...It seems that you know the Dragon Warrior very well, may I ask what your connection to him is?” The Komodo Dragon said in his menacing but polite voice, while he was using his tongue to sense something in the area. “Oh, he’s actually my teacher! Or trainer...Or whatever you wanna call it. He’s almost like a father to me! And right now he’s teaching me how to control my strength!” Hao said with just as much enthusiasm as before. “Interesting, do you know where he could be right now?” The Komodo Dragon questioned. “Sorry, but I don’t, all he told me yesterday was that he had something important to do today.” Hao told the large reptilian. Mrs Yu then realized something and said “From what I know, ‘the Dragon Warrior almost always comes down to the village when it is under attack’, however since there is no such commotion it is likely he and the other Kung Fu Masters are training at the top of the mountain at the Jade Palace.” “Is that so...So if this Orphanage were attacked he would come down?” The reptilian questioned with a hint of dark intent in his voice. “Y-Yes?” Mrs Yu said becoming a little nervous with the tone of voice that the reptilian had used. The Komodo Dragon then looked at the Gorilla beside him and whispered something to the primate’s ear that could not be heard by either Hao or Mrs Yu. The Gorilla then nodded and left the doorway and seemed to go around the building somewhere. “I-I never got y-your name, a-are you new in town?” Mrs Yu nervously questioned.

 

“ **Akuma”**

 

The Komodo Dragon responded. “And to answer your second question, yes, I am ‘new’ here.” He said in a tone of voice even more intimidating than before. “Oh, please to meet you mister Akuma.” Hao said abruptly. “Do you mind if I ask you why you’re so interested in the Dragon Warrior?” The little Tiger cub asked curiously. The Komodo Dragon then answered “Well young one...Let’s just say, I’m interested in seeing how ‘powerful’ he is.” After he said this, a what seemed like a horde of armed mercenaries broke into the building through the windows. This startled all the children and they screamed in panic, as did the caretaker who then ran out of the building right past the large Komodo Dragon who now looked down at the Tiger cub who had been startled by the commotion as well. “Now, believe me when I say that ‘ **this isn’t personal** ’ young one.” The Tiger cub was now extremely frightened and he said “w-what are you doing?” The Komodo Dragon pulled out a Kunai throwing knife and then began to laugh evilly as he said “just giving you a visit with the ‘mighty Dragon Warrior’.”

 

**Back in the meadow outside of the village**

 

“Did you hear that?” Tigress said getting up from the ground. “Yeah, that sounded like the bell from the courtyard...But we haven’t had an attack from bandits in months...” Po said sounding slightly worried. “We’d better return to the village to see what’s going on!” Po exclaimed. And the two masters swiftly left the meadow trough the bamboo forests.

 

Once they arrived at the village square everything seemed fine however they were shortly met by Zeng who seemed like he was looking for them. “Dragon Warrior! Master Tigress! You must help! The Orphanage is under attack by bandits!” He quickly recounted the situation. Tigress and Po then looked at each other in sync and said “Hao!” Zeng then seemed confused as the two masters rushed off in the direction of the orphanage. “What do they mean ‘How’?” I just told them the Orphanage was under attack and they ask ‘How’? I swear I’ll never understand these Kung Fu Masters.” Zeng said to himself.

 

**Meanwhile at the Orphanage**

 

“Let me go! I’ve done nothing wrong!” Hao screamed at the Komodo Dragon who was now holding him tightly by the arm. “I assure you, you will not be harmed young one.” The Komodo Dragon responded with an evil chuckle.

 

Just then the Orphanage doors slammed open and the unconscious bodies of 6 Gorilla and Rhino bandits slid through the doorway. “Dragon Warrior! At last! We’ve been expecting You!” The Komodo Dragon spoke in an evil tone. Po then gasped as he heard the voice of the large reptilian “I-It cant be...” Tigress who was standing in a fighting stance looked over at Po and worryingly asked “Is something wrong Po?” Po just starred at the Komodo Dragon “No...It can’t be...Hes the one from my nightmares...” Po said seeming very distraught. “Po! Help me!” Hao screamed trying to get Po’s attention. It was then that Po noticed that the Komodo Dragon was holding Hao against his will. This drove Po over the edge and he let out an angry growl and charged at the horde of mercenaries taking out nearly 20 of the Gorilla’s and Rhino’s in a fit of rage. Tigress just watched in shock, she had never seen the Panda so emotional during a fight before. ‘Po has never fought like this before, he is attacking those bandits so violently almost like he does when he punches the Ir-wait...Oh no!’ Tigress thought. Po had just taken down half of the bandits and was about to punch a large Gorilla unconscious in his rage, however he was stopped when he heard the Komodo Dragon call out “I wouldn’t do that...” Akuma said as he held a Kunai throwing knife to Hao’s neck. “Po!” Hao desperately called to his teacher. Po then broke out of his trance and pleaded “No! Hao! Let him go!” The reptilian gave an evil grin and said “Now, I have a proposition for you ‘Dragon Warrior’.” Tigress who had been watching Po take down all the bandits now ran up bu his side. Akuma then continued “Surrender, and I let this poor young one go without being harmed.” Tigress then interjected “No! Never! We will never submit to you!” A circle of thoughts went through Po’s head at that moment, he knew he couldn’t let the Komodo Dragon hurt Hao or worse, kill him.

 

‘ **Clang!’**

 

Po’s jade staff fell to the ground after he dropped it on purpose. He then knelt on both knees on the floor with both of his hands falling to the ground. “Okay...Just let him go...”

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 9

 

For the Greater Good

 

“Okay...Just let him go...” Po said kneeling on the ground surrendering to the Komodo Dragon. Tigress was stunned at the Panda’s choice to surrender to the Komodo Dragon “What! No! Po you can’t!” She tried to argue with Po’s decision. Po ignored Tigress’ pleas “Just please, don’t harm him.” Tigress was almost offended by the Panda’s decision to give up so easily “What are you doing Po!? How can you just give up to this ‘Monster’!” She tried to argue as she got into her fighting stance to intervene in the situation. Po then got up and stopped her. “Tigress, I have to do this, if I don’t submit, he might hurt or worse kill the children.” Po said trying to calm down the unruly female Tiger beside him. “But...You can’t go! You can’t leave us...You can’t leave me!” She said to him emotionally grabbing his shoulder from behind and shedding tears. Po then turned around and stood looking his girlfriend in the eyes “Tigress...Promise me.” He said wiping the tears of her cheeks. He then continued “Promise me, that you will look after the valley for me.” She then began to almost cry as she emotionally said “No! We need you...I need you! You can’t leave!” Po then smiled weakly as he said “Don’t worry, I will return...After all, how else am I supposed to get this back from you?” He said as he removed his Golden Dragon Cloak and placed it around her neck. “No!” She said as she hugged him tightly, to which he hugged her back and said “it’s okay, everything will be alright dear.” This comforted her a little, but only a little. “Promise me you’ll return...For my sake.” She said emotionally. “I promise.” Po said with an understanding nod. She then pressed her lips against his, and they leaned into a passionate kiss, neither wanted this moment to end. When they broke apart for air, Po said “please Tigress, promise me that you wont come looking for me. For now, the valley needs you and the five. I promise I will return when the time comes.” She nodded, not taking her eyes off him. He then let go of her while still staring at her and held out his arms behind his back where several of the Gorilla mercenaries cuffed his arms with strong iron chains and shackles.

 

The Komodo Dragon then grinned as he said “what a noble act Dragon Warrior, you truly do live up to your reputation.” Po just turned to the reptilian and starred emotionless into the cold blooded creature’s face and said “now, release the cub.” Akuma then took his kunai away from Hao’s neck and he sheathed his knife. “Absolutely, I am a man of my word after all.” And then he released the terrified cub who ran to the Dragon Warrior for comfort. “Po! Why is he doing this!? And where is he taking you!?” The frightened cub hugged the bound Panda tightly, Po kneeled on one knee bent his head down to provide comfort to the scarred cub. “Hao, you must promise to me that you will stay strong while I am gone. Always remember to believe in yourself, **‘anything that you believe you can do, you can do’**.” Hao kept hugging his teacher, however in this moment, he wanted to believe that Po was really his father. Hao cried as he said “this is all my fault! I should have stayed in my room and none of this would ever happened!” Po then stepped back and looked Hao in the eyes and responded “Hao, I don’t want you to ever blame yourself for any of this, this is no ones fault. Do you hear me?” The cub just continued to cry, so Po once again comforted the cub unfortunately not being able to wrap his arms around the Cub to provide extra comfort. “Tigress will take care of you, you must trust her as you have trusted me, she will continue to train you until I return.” Po looked over to an emotional Tigress and nodded to which she winced but also nodded. “Now go, you will be safe with her.” The cub then backed away from Po and nodded and said “Okay Po, I’ll do my best.” He then ran over to Tigress and hugged her leg. Po called out to Tigress “Tigress, when the other’s come, tell them **‘I did this for the greater good’**. And also, tell them to believe.” Tigress shed tears as she emotionally said “I love you!” Po then called back “I know.” (That’s a cliché from Star Wars the Empire Strikes Back)

 

Po then turned back to Akuma as the reptile had spoken “I hate to ruin this emotional moment Dragon Warrior, but I’m afraid your time is up.” Po was then escorted by the same two Gorillas over to what seemed to be a prison cart, they then put him inside the cage on the cart which was made of strong iron bars. Tigress just watched in horror as she saw how roughly the two Gorillas were handling her Panda and she growled in anger. As they put Po in the large cage, Akuma made his way over to the cage and said “Believe me when I say that this isn’t personal Dragon Warrior.” Po just starred right at Akuma with an unamused expression without saying a word. Akuma then grinned and called back the mercenaries that were not knocked out. One of the Rhinos then said “but master! What about the injured?” Akuma seemed irritated by this and he snapped back “what about them!?” The Rhino then responded “Shouldn’t we help them and take them with us?” Akuma then became angered for some reason as he said and an angry and evil tone “maybe, one of these days you’ll realize my friend that only the strong survive!” He then slashed the Rhinos neck using his claws and said to the now bleeding Rhino “And the weak perish!” Akuma then kicked Rhinos head to the side making a gruesome “crack” after the Rhinos neck was broken.

 

During this, Tigress had covered the young Tiger cub’s eyes to prevent him from seeing such violence. She was still very emotional from the situation, the thought of losing her love right after they had gone out on their first date was too much for her to bear, and she once again began to cry. Akuma then walked up to Tigress and Hao and said to the little Tiger cub “I thank you for your hospitality young one.” Tigress just growled and angrily starred down the Komodo Dragon. “Such ferocity and bravery, no wonder the you and the Dragon Warrior were so close.” Akuma taunted. Tigress then threatened “I swear if you do anything to him, I will kill you.” Akuma then laughed evilly as he sarcastically said “I would have it no other way, my stripped friend.” Tigress just stood her ground and kept starring down the reptilian.

 

“Well, our work here is done, now I’m afraid we must be off.” Akuma said as he walked back to the cart where Po was imprisoned. Akuma and his men then began to walk out of the orphanage and off into the distance. Tigress just watched as her love was taken away from her and was being taken god knows where. Even though she was not injured in any way, this was probably the most pain she had ever felt, other than the time when she believed that Po had been killed by Shen’s cannon in the warehouse. She hardly even noticed that Hao was still hugging her leg and was crying as well “Master Tigress, is Po going to be okay?” The cub said with tears in his eyes. Tigress just looked down at the cub and shook her head “I don’t know.” She said with very little hope in her voice, she wished she could give the cub the answer to his question, however in this moment she didn’t really know what to believe. Finding the strength she still had, she knelt down and looked the cub in the eyes “all I know is that he doesn’t often go back on his word. He will come back.” The cub just “I’m so sorry Master Tigress! This is all my fault! I shou-” He ranted before he was interrupted by Tigress who picked up and hugged the cub “Po asked you not to blame yourself for this Hao, I don’t want to hear you blame yourself either.” She said trying to cradle the sad cub as best as she could, this was another thing that Tigress had very little experience in. While she held the cub in her arms, she looked down at the ground and noticed something that she hadn’t earlier. Po’s jade green staff was still lying on the floor of the Orphanage from when he intentionally dropped it earlier. She then released the cub and picked up the staff. It was surprisingly light and nimble, and it was coated in Po’s scent.

 

Just then she heard several voices call out “Tigress!? Po!?” It was Viper and Crane, they were hurrying toward the Orphanage. Tigress looked back to the entrance of the Orphanage and witnessed Viper and Crane rush into the building shortly followed by the rest of the furious five. “Tigress! Zeng told us the Orphanage was under attack! Is everything alr-Wait...Where’s Po?” Viper said sounding very worried. Tigress just closed her eyes in grief and said “The Orphanage is fine Viper, but Po...Po is gone...” The others gasped “wait, what!?” They almost all said in unison. “A large Komodo Dragon with an army of Gorilla and Rhino mercenaries invaded the Orphanage and took some of the children hostage. We took out many of his men, but he threatened to kill the children if Po didn’t surrender. So he did, and now they’re taking him away.” Tigress emotionally said. They all gasped “well what are we waiting for! We have to save the big guy!” Mantis said affirmatively to his friends. To which the other members of the five nodded and began to leave until they were stopped by Tigress who said “No.” This made all of the others stare at the female Tiger in shock. “What!? But we have too! He’s our friend! And he’s your-” Tigress just looked away as she interrupted her friends and said “No, our duty is to protect the valley, not to rescue Po. Before he got taken away, he told me to not rescue him or go looking for him. I suggest that we all trust his judgment and believe.” The others couldn’t believe what they were hearing, Tigress was prohibiting them from going to save Po, normally they would always help their friends and would never abandon anyone. “But he’s your boyfriend.” Said Monkey who could not understand the Tiger’s reasoning behind her words. “It doesn’t matter Monkey, Po demanded that we not look for him and I intend to honor his request, I suggest that the rest of you do the same.” The five began to have gloomy looks on their faces, Po was very close to each of them, and accepting his absence would be very difficult for them. They all respected Po’s wishes however and decided to honor his request. “So what do we do then?” Crane said with an obvious amount of sadness in his voice. Tigress then opened her eyes and looked at them and said “we do our duties for now, and protect the village until he returns which he most certainly will.”

 

Just then, the caretaker of the Orphanage Mrs Yu reentered the doors and said “Oh thank goodness those monsters are gone! Thank you Masters!” She said in a relieved manner, however she then noticed that someone was missing. “Wait...Where’s the Dragon Warrior?” She said worriedly. Tigress spoke for the team as she said “the children of the Orphanage are safe because of him Mrs Yu, he surrendered to the mercenaries in order to secure the lives of the children.” Mrs Yu was taken back by the words of the Master of the Tiger style of Kung Fu. “He is truly gone?” The sheep said slightly emotionally. “He is.” Tigress said with a hint of grief in her voice. “Then I and the Orphans are forever indebted to his noble sacrifice. He truly is a Hero of China.” The Sheep said and then continued “Is there any way we can repay you masters” Tigress then signaled to her friends to remove the still unconscious bodies of the knocked out mercenaries from the building, then she asked “Is there anything you can tell us about the Komodo Dragon?” Mrs Yu then recalled her conversation with the reptilian, “Absolutely, he came to the Orphanage with a large Gorilla by his side and they asked about where the Dragon Warrior was, I had no idea they had any malicious intent. Hao was with me when the Komodo Dragon came here, and the Komodo Dragon asked him many questions.” The Sheep said. Hao then walked up beside Tigress and looked up at her saying “Yeah he asked me a lot of things like how I knew Po, and where I got the action figure of you and where Po was! I feel terrible for answering everything!” Yigress just looked down at Hao and knelt down and put an arm on the little cub’s shoulder. “It’s okay Hao, you didn’t know what he was going to do.” This made the cub feel better, and he said “Thank you Master Tigress.” She nodded and just asked “Hao, is there anything else you can tell me about that ‘Monster’?” The cub responded “Yeah, he said he wanted to see how strong Po was, and he said he wasn’t from around here. And also he said his name was Akuma or something...” At this Tigress gasped and said “Oh no...” Hao didn’t understand what Tigress was on about. “Is everything okay Master Tigress?” Tigress just looked down at the cub and said “Hao, Akuma translates to Demon or Devil from Japanese...”

 

She then remembered something Po had said to himself before they had fought the mercenaries ‘No...It can’t be...Hes the one from my nightmares...’ She hadn’t been focused on it when they were fighting but now she realized how important this was. ‘Po must have been having premonitions! That explains why he was so unruly at the Palace, and why he was acting so differently!’ She thought to herself. Hao then spoke up in a nervous tone “That’s bad, isn’t it?” Tigress just smiled at the Cub’s rapid mood swings and replied “well, Po has defeated Demons before, so not necessarily.” Mrs Yu then interrupted “that’s right! Years ago, the Dragon Warrior saved the valley from a Demon named Ke Pa!” Tigress then finished “Exactly, so there is nothing to worry about, I trust that Po knows what he is doing.” Hao then sighed in relief as he said “Well that’s good, I think I will return to my room if I’m not needed anymore.” The cub said with a hint of guilt in his voice. Tigress then remembered what Po had said before he had been taken away ‘Tigress will take care of you, you must trust her as you have trusted me, she will continue to train you until I return.’ She then thought of an idea that would lift the cub’s spirits so she spoke privately to Mrs Yu the caretaker.

 

Hao was sitting on the bed in his now slightly dark room reflecting on what had happened that day, his room was always quite dark as there was only one window but now that the sun was setting it was becoming near black in his room. Just then, he heard someone step to the entrance of his room and heard someone say “Hao, I would like to ask you something.” It was Master Tigress, so he replied “Sure thing Master Tigress, what can I do?” Tigress smiled as she said “I want to ask if you’d be interested in coming back with me and the other members of the Furious Five to the Jade Palace.” Hao couldn’t believe what he was hearing “Wait for real! You want me to come and live at the Jade Palace with you and all the other Kung Fu Masters!” He excitedly responded. Tigress just chuckled at the Cub’s enthusiasm and said “Of course, I promised to Po that I would take care of you, and I intend to do just that.” Hao then got out of his bed and excitedly began to run around cheering “Yay! I’m going to the Jade Palace!” Tigress just watched the cub in satisfaction and said “then let’s be on our way.” The cub than ran out of the room and to the entrance to the Orphanage where he waved goodbye to Mrs Yu who watched happily from the center of the building. “He will be much happier with you than being here.” Mrs Yu said to Tigress who was catching up to the enthusiastic cub. “Thank you Mrs Yu.” Tigress said as she bowed to her former caretaker. Then the two feline’s left through the door to meet up with the rest of the Furious Five. “Who’s the kid?” Mantis said once the two had met up with the others. “Everyone, this is Hao Liang, he will be staying with us at the jade Palace until Po returns. Hao, meet Masters Viper, Crane, Monkey, and Mantis.” Tigress said introducing both parties. “Pleased to meet you Hao!” The rest of the five replied. Hao felt very welcomed by this and he excitedly said “You’re all Kung Fu Masters too!? That is so awesome!” They then began on their way back to the Palace.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 10

 

Fugitive

 

“He really reminds me of someone with his enthusiasm and charm.” Viper said to Tigress as they were alone, while following the others and Hao up to the 1000 steps. Tigress winced when her sister said this, she knew exactly who she was referring to when she described the Cub’s qualities. But she felt a bit of pride when thinking of how much the Cub resembled her boyfriend, she felt proud to have given the Cub hope in a time like this. “He does...” She replied to Viper with a smile on her face looking over to how the Cub was always running ahead and waiting for the masters to catch up. Viper responded in an apologetic “I’m sorry for what happened Tigress, we all are. It breaks our hearts to know that he is gone.” Tigress just kept looking at the Cub as she said “At least his sacrifice wasn’t in vain. He once again demonstrated why he is a great hero, I wanted nothing more than to beat that Lizard to oblivion, but it would have come at the cost of Hao’s life, and probably many of the other orphans. And though I feel nothing but grief losing him, I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.” Viper then said “And it just had to happen on the same day as your first date. What terrible luck...” Tigress just looked away and didn’t respond. She just thought about how much she had enjoyed their date, it had been so long since she had been able to feel happiness and love, in fact it had been a long time since she could even feel anything. But once the Panda began to interact with her more and more, her wall that she had built to withstand pain and emotions was crumpled. Interrupting her thought was Hao who then said “Wow! I’ve never been this far into the village before! There are so many shops!.” The Cub went over to look at all the merchandise being sold, from exotic foods, to exquisite jewelry, to restaurants. The others couldn’t help but smile at the Cub’s adorable behavior.

 

Then Hao said “What’s that smell? It smells delicious!” He then ran over to where the smell was coming from, almost forgetting about the masters. He then looked up at a sign that read ‘Ping and Shan’s Noodles’. “That must be where that awesome smell is coming from!” He said to himself as he entered the round entryway of the shop. “Hao!?” He heard Tigress calling out to him, and he was about to go back to Tigress to tell her where he was, but then he was greeted by a very kind voice behind him. “Hello young one, Welcome to Ping and Shan’s Noodles! Is there anything I can do for you?” Hao looked back to see a middle aged Goose who wore a red robe with a very strange looking hat. “What’s that amazing smell coming from this place? I’ve never smelt anything so good!” The Goose simply chuckled happily and said “So you like the smell of our signature noodle soup? Say young one, would you like to try it?” Hao then smiled but realized something, “I would love to sir! But I don’t have any way to pay for it.” He said with a hint of disappointment. “Oh nonsense! You can try it for free!” The Goose generously offered, and then continued in a whisper “just don’t tell anyone else.” the Goose said with a wink. “Really! That would be awesome! Thank you!” Hao happily replied. The Goose then nodded and went over to the kitchen to fix up the Cub a bowl of noodle soup that he had leftover from the batch he had made earlier, however he thought while on the way over to the counter ‘That Tiger Cub really reminds me of someone...’ Then a voiced called from just outside the restaurant “Hao!? Where did you go?” It was once again Tigress. Hao then remembered that he had left the Masters behind when looking for the origin of that amazing smell. “I’m right here!” He called out, hoping that Tigress would hear him. Sure enough within a couple of seconds, Master Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five came running into the shop. “Thank the Gods you’re alright Hao, next time don’t run off like that!” Tigress said affirmatively. “I’m sorry Master Tigress. I just smelt this amazing smell and I had to see what it was! And there’s this really kind Goose who offered to let me try his food for free! And-” The Cub was cut off when he heard someone say “Master Tigress?” Mr Ping had been bringing the bowl of noodle soup to the Cub, when he noticed that the Masters of the Jade Palace were also standing in the entrance of the restaurant. “Hello Mr Ping, how are you today?” Crane spoke for the group. Mr Ping smiled and said “I’m doing very well thank you! Do you happen to know this nice young child?” He said to the group. Tigress then spoke “Mr Ping, meet Hao Liang, he will be living with us at the Jade Palace for while. Hao, meet Mr Ping, Po’s father.” Hao then gasped “You’re Po’s Dad!?” Mr Ping then laughed and said “Well, one of them at least!” The Goose said with a bit of a chuckle. “Wait, Po has more than one Dad?” The Cud said confused at what the Goose meant. “It’s a long story for another time, now, I brought you a hot bowl of our noodle soup, enjoy!” Hao took a sip from the bowel with his spoon and instantly craved for more, this soup was simply the best food he had ever tasted. “Wow! This stuff is amazing!” He said taking many more spoonfuls. The Goose simply laughed as he said, I’m glad you like it.” Then he said to Tigress, “speaking of Po, how is my son doing?” Tigress then began to frown and decided to recount the story to the middle aged Goose instead of hiding the truth. They discussed the matter at the same table as Hao was sitting at, though he hardly paid attention to the conversation as he was to busy enjoying the incredibly delicious meal he was eating.

 

Once they finished recounting the story, Mr Ping was heartbroken and seemed very sad, he had always been very protective of his son and always wanted the best life for Po. Initially Ping had wanted Po to inherit the family business and continue his legacy, however, he soon realized that Po had always aspired to something greater. And that’s exactly why he enjoyed being the Dragon Warrior so much, Po had always dreamed of learning the art of Kung Fu, however what he wanted more than anything, was to be a hero. And even though he was upset with the situation, he knew that Po would never go back on his word, and he would always come back.

 

Once Hao had finished his meal, they got up from their seats and said their goodbyes to Mr Ping, the sun had nearly set and all the village shops were beginning to close for the night. So the Masters left the noodle shop and made their way to the 1000 steps to the jade Palace, when they came to the steps Hao was surprised at how far up the stairs went. “Wow, you guys climb all those steps just to get to the Palace?” He said feeling a bit nervous. “Don’t Worry Hao, they aren’t as far as they seem, but trust me when I say that there was one individual who always hated these stairs.” Tigress said with a bit of a giggle at the end. “I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the top.” Hao said with a lack of confidence. Tigress just smiled and said “Just do your best Hao, I will help you the rest of the way.”

 

For a young Cub, Hao had gotten quite far up the stairs, stopping halfway. It had been a long day for the Cub and his body needed to rest, and so Tigress kindly picked the Cub up by the waist and held him next to her right shoulder as she carried him the rest of the way up. Viper couldn’t help but feel great happiness when looking at Tigress carrying the adorable innocent Cub up the stairs who had fallen asleep in her arms. “He’s so adorable you know.” Viper quietly said to Tigress as to not wake the Cub. “He sure is, and he’s a strong one too, he has been through a lot lately.” Tigress responded almost whispering to also avoid waking the Cub. Viper then switched topics “So, do you miss him?” Tigress just closed her eyes and said in a sad tone “yes.”

 

**Meanwhile in a place unknown, many miles from the valley of peace**

 

Po opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness and a small amount of moonlight on the floor which entered the room from a window which was barred with thick steel bars. The room looked almost exactly like the one he had been in during his nightmares. ‘So the nightmares really were real.’ He thought to himself as he observed more of his surroundings, he was standing up on a floor which was quite dirty, he presumed it hadn’t been cleaned for a long time. He tried to move but then realized that his wrists were bound by strong Iron Shackles and chains which pinned his arms to the wall. He figured he would be patient instead of trying to escape. On his way up to this place, Po had meditated for nearly the entire trip, tuning out many distractions such as the cart wheels spinning, the footsteps of the mercenaries and also their conversations. Ever since he had defeated Kai, Po became much better in his meditation, he was able to sustain his calm and peace for hours (sometimes days) without being distracted in any way. On the way, he had used it as a means to calm his mind and body, also because he really didn’t have anything better to do since he was imprisoned. Now he couldn’t perform meditation in the lotus pose, however he could still quite his mind and get a clearer view on everything. He then heard what sounded like a prison door open with a metal squeak. Then he heard footsteps which sounded like those that he had heard in his first dream. “What do you want.” Po said in a calm but unamused voice. The Komodo Dragon then laughed and said “What I want, my friend, is to ask you if you know why you are here.”

 

Po didn’t respond to this, sure he had a couple ideas on why the Komodo Dragon had captured him, but none of them had any evidence to prove them. “No response? Well I didn’t exactly expect you to be very social so I guess I’ll tell you why you’re here.” The Komodo Dragon said to Po in an understanding tone. “You see, I intend to rule the country, and I need your help to accomplish just that. I’ve heard of how powerful you are, and also how you are one of China’s greatest heroes.” Po began to slightly growl at the Komodo Dragon who then continued “But wouldn’t you like to rid the entire country of crime and villainy?” The Komodo Dragon said as he began to smirk. Po then responded “How? By killing the criminals and forcing the country into fear? I’m sorry, but I’ve already dealt with a **tyrant** and he had at similar ambition to you. I’ll never join you.”

 

The Komodo Dragon just laughed and said “I didn’t expect that you would join me willingly Dragon Warrior...But nonetheless, you will come around eventually...” He laughed and then left from the same doors that he had come in earlier. Once the cold blooded tyrant left the room Po thought ‘so he intends to use me as a pawn to conquer all of China? Well, I can’t let that happen.’ Po then looked at both the chains on either arm restraining him. ‘I’d better break out soon...But first I have to make sure the coast is clear...’ He thought as he dilated his pupils to allow him to see in more clarity, although it was still dark, he could now see the walls of the entire room in more detail. They were made of thick concrete and probably reinforced with iron rebar, one of them had a small barred window which he had already seen. ‘That window is way to small for me to fit through, even though I have lost a lot of weight.’ He thought to himself trying to find another way to escape. ‘The only other way that I can see is the same door that the bastard came in and out from, but it’s bound to be well guarded, I’m going to have to be very quiet about this.’ He thought. Looking out as far as he could, he noticed that nobody was guarding his cell, he suspected that this was because they believed that no one could escape. So gathering all the strength he had, Po began to pull his right arm as hard as he could away from the chain. After seconds of pulling extremely hard on the chain, it gave away and snapped, freeing Po’s right arm. The wrist brace and some of the chain were still attached to his arm, but this didn’t matter to Po, he was only focused on getting out of this place. He then pulled the chain binding his left arm as hard as before, once again after seconds of applying much force to the chain, it snapped, freeing Po completely.

 

Now that he was free from the chains, he stretched his limbs and neck and began to channel his Chi throughout his body. He was using his Chi to augment his physical strength. ‘Just have to bend these bars quietly now.’ He thought as he began to feel the strength building in his muscles. He then grabbed two of the bars and pushed very hard to bend them away from each other. They were strong, but Po was stronger, as he bent a crevice in between the bars that was just big enough for him to fit through. He then got out of his cell and looked around the hallway which his cell was in. He saw the hallway lead in two different directions, one lead to a dead end and the other looked like it branched off two ways as well. He decided to follow the open way, there were many other cells in the building, all of which looked similar to the one Po had been in. As he passed the many empty cell blocks on the way to the junction at the end of the hallway, he saw a room that had a label on it, it read ‘Powder Room’. Po then remembered back to after he had defeated Lord Shen, the citizens of Gongmen city had made an investigation of the weapon that he had used to take over the city. They concluded that the weapon was powered by a substance called ‘gunpowder’, and that this substance was highly explosive. An idea then struck Po, ‘I’ll ignite the powder inside this room which will distract them, allowing me to escape and also cripple their operation.’ So Po entered the room, it was very dark, he presumed that they didn’t want to light the room as to not set fire to the highly volatile substance. He found many sealed barrels which housed the gunpowder, so he opened one of the barrels and started making a trail of the powder on the floor leading out of the room so that he wouldn’t be near to the large blast. Once he was far enough away, he set the now empty barrel aside. ‘Damn, there aren’t any torches around here.’ He thought as he looked for another way to set fire to the gunpowder. He then looked at the shackles that were still on his wrists and another idea struck him ‘that’s it!’ Wasting no time, Po began to scrape the iron shackles against each other to make a spark. He tried this for nearly 30 seconds until he heard footsteps approaching his location, “Common Damnit!” Po angrily whispered to himself as he still tried to make a spark. Just then he heard someone at the junction gasp, he rapidly turned his head around and saw a shocked and nervous boar guard. Po then said to himself “Son of a Bi-” He was then interrupted as the Boar took out a horn and sounded an alarm. Po then took the empty gunpowder barrel and threw it at the Boar knocking him out. “Godamnit!” He said to himself. He wouldn’t be able to escape out the front door now, so he quickly scraped the shackles against each other very hard which made many sparks. The gunpowder then began to catch fire and followed the trail which lead to the Powder Room.

 

“ **POW!”**

 

The Powder room made a massive explosion which destroyed nearly half the hallway. Po had closed his eyes during the explosion and when he opened his eyes he saw that the explosion had made a large opening in the building. ‘There’s my escape route.’ He thought to himself as he hurried towards the opening. Within seconds, he arrived at the large opening, but noticed that there was still much fire and smoke in the way, however through the debris was a wooden fence which was on fire. ‘that must be the border of the place! I just have to get through all this fire!’ He thought as he gathered his Chi and once again channeled it through his muscles to give him better speed. He then ran as fast as he could towards the burning fence, running through fiery debris on the way which Po ignored as he was more focused on escaping the place. Once he got out of the inferno, he noticed that his green tunic had caught fire, so he ditched the tunic and kept on running. Once he was nearly 100 meters from the fence, he started hearing loud shouts coming from the burning building, “Find him you idiots! No one escapes this camp!” He heard an angered voice shout. He just kept on running to get away from the pursuers, he was nearly at the fence but then…

 

**“Splat!”**

 

His left leg stopped moving and he fell to the ground in extreme pain. His left thigh had just been punctured by an arrow from a bow. He then hear the shouts of the mercenaries getting closer to him, he knew he had to keep moving. But he was too late, the mercenaries had caught up with him and trapped him in a circle. He then heard someone say “Do not kill him! I want him alive!” The mercenaries then began to approach Po as he knelt on the grass clutching his leg where the arrow had pierced. He then began to growl violently as he got into a fighting stance. He then pulled the arrow out of his leg and snapped it in half with one hand making the mercenaries more nervous. They then charged the Panda all at once, and the Panda responded by fighting all 10 mercenaries at once. He had knocked nearly 8 of the mercenaries out when he noticed that many more were replacing the ones he had knocked down. ‘They wont get me down without a fight!’ He thought as he kept fighting the Boars and Wolves that were attacking him. He began to tire after a few minutes of consecutive fighting thanks to the wound in his leg, but his resolve was still there. He had knocked down nearly 20 mercenaries when all the sudden…

 

“ **Splat!”**

 

Another arrow pierced him, but this time it hit him in his upper right chest. He roared in pain which again frightened the attackers, but they still assaulted him. This time, he didn’t even bother to pull out the arrow and kept fighting with absolute ferocity.

 

From not to far away, Akuma watched the fight unfold, he was very impressed with the Panda’s resilience and resolve. Though he was also very enraged at how the Panda had destroyed his entire storage room for gunpowder, as well as half of the prison that he had in his camp. As he watched the Panda fight off his thugs, he noticed that the Panda was giving into exhaustion, no doubt because of his injuries. He then signaled for his strongest men (The Gorilla warriors) to restrain the Panda.

 

At the moment, Po was being jumped on from all directions as the thugs were trying to tackle him to the ground. He flung most of them off, however there were too many, and they quickly pinned him to the ground. With all the remaining strength he had, he rose from the ground roaring loudly and throwing nearly all the thugs off him sending them flying. He then tried to catch his breath quickly, but he was then swarmed by the Gorilla thugs who permanently pinned him to the ground. At this point, the adrenaline rush that Po had wore away and he gave up in defeat, passing out from the blood loss he had sustained.

 

Once the Gorillas noticed that the Panda wasn’t moving anymore, they got off him. “A valiant escape attempt ‘Dragon Warrior’.” Akuma said to Po who was now on the ground unconscious. “However, I’m not done with you yet.” Akuma said in an evil and devious voice.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 11

 

Mamma’s Boy

 

**In the Jade Palace Student Barracks**

 

A young Tiger Cub opened his eyes, he saw a paper wall with wooden frame. The rooms wall was allowing a small amount of light into the room. All Hao could remember was that he had been climbing the 1000 steps with the Furious Five when he got really tired halfway up, he also remembered that Tigress had helped him up. But where was he now? He then raised his head from the pillow underneath and looked at a table with multiple shelves on it, the shelves had some realistic looking figurines of certain animals. One was an elderly tortoise holding a wooden staff, one was a white peacock with a robe, there was one of a large snow leopard with purple training shorts, there was one of a large bull with a large headdress along with several green knives, and lastly there was one of a small red panda balancing itself on top of a similar staff as the one that tortoise held. Hao had never seen such people before and so he wondered if these were important people in the world, or if they were just pieces of art. He then got himself out of the bed that he had been sleeping on, and the little cub stretched his arms and yawned, then he went over to the table with the shelves that stored the figurines. ‘Master Oogway’ The cub read the engraved name on the plate that the figurine stood on. ‘Lord Shen...He sure looks evil.’ the cub thought to himself as he read the second figurine’s name. ‘Tai Lung...He looks really strong!’ The Cub thought to himself once again. ‘Kai the spirit warrior’ The cub then felt his fur perk up as he got goosebumps from looking at the figure. ‘He looks even more evil!’ The cub thought to himself with a bit of a shiver. He then looked at the last figurine of the red panda ‘Master Shifu...I think Po said something about a Shifu when he trained me the other day.’ The cub then remembered what had happened the day before to Po. “I’m so sorry Po...” The cub quietly said to himself, feeling guilty about what happened. But then he remembered what Po had told him before he was taken away ‘Hao, I don’t want you to ever blame yourself for any of this, this is no ones fault. Do you hear me?’ He recounted the Panda’s statement in his mind. “Okay Po, if you say so-” “Good morning young one.”

 

The Cub’s self talk was interrupted by a wise and kind voice which slightly startled the Tiger. “Oh I’m sorry mister! I didn’t mean to wake you up...I didn’t realize I was making so much noise...” The cub ranted apologetically to the old Red Panda. The Red Panda then chuckled slightly and responded “It’s okay young one, I have been awake for an hour now. But where are my manners? My name is Shifu, and I am the Grandmaster of the Jade Palace.” Hao then gasped “You’re Shifu!? So you taught Po and the other Furious Five the ways of Kung Fu!?” Master Shifu chuckled once again and said “Indeed I am.” “Wow that is so cool! So you must be the same person as the figurine over on that shelf there!” Hao excitedly said and he pointed to the action figure on the shelf. “Ah yes, the Dragon Warrior always did have a hobby for carving those ‘dolls’.” Master Shifu said. “Wait, Dragon Warrior...Do you mean to tell me that Po made these?” Hao said surprised at what Shifu was saying. “Everyone of them was hand crafted by him, this is his room after all.” Shifu said with a smile on his face. “This is Po’s room!? That is totally awesome!” Hao responded with excitement in his voice which just made Shifu chuckle. ‘Tigress and Po made a great decision in training this Cub, his heart is as pure as the Dragon Warrior’s.’ Shifu thought to himself. “Forgive me for all the surprise this morning, you see when Tigress carried you up the rest of the 1000 steps you were fast asleep, and so she decided to allow you to rest here.” Shifu recounted what had happened the night before. “Oh yeah! Where is Master Tigress by the way?” The Cub asked. “She is meditating at the moment, for now you must eat, your body needs its strength.” Shifu responded assertively. “Okay! That sounds great! I’m starving!” The Cub said only noticing now that he was quite hungry. Shifu then chuckled again as he thought ‘he also has the same appetite as the Dragon Warrior...’ Then he replied to the hungry cub “Common, the dinning room is right this way.”

 

**Up on the Summit of the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom**

 

Tigress sat calmly in the lotus position beside the legendary peach tree. This was arguably her favorite spot to be, it was at this spot where she had learned to be herself rather than trying to become just like her master. ‘No matter how much you try, you will never be Shifu’ Oogway had told her 13 years ago on this exact spot. It was also here where Po’s life force had been restored after his near death fight with the demon Ke-Pa. While she sat peacefully on the mountain, her mind was anything but peaceful, at the moment she was thinking about how her boyfriend had been taken away from her. Bear it in mind it wasn’t the first time she had nearly lost him, there were the times like his fight with Ke-Pa or his fight with Lord Shen where she truly thought she had lost the Panda, however this time definitely felt the worst of all of them. She had just one of the happiest days of her life with the Panda and wanted it never to end, and then some crazy lizard had to completely ruin it and take her Panda from her. She then began to shed tears from her eyes that were closed, and slowly began to cry as she remembered how much she loved Po. She may not have been too fond of him when he had first arrived, but soon through interaction with him, she realized that he was the most important thing that had come into her life.

 

“It is not like you to dwell on things like these while you still have a responsability to someone ‘my daughter’.” Tigress turned around to see Shifu watching her with a sad expression. She then responded in an irritated way “it’s been a long time since you’ve called me that...” Shifu still held a sad expression on his face and he looked down at the ground, probably out of shame. It was true, he hadn’t called Tigress his daughter in a long time, most likely for 20 years, if you’d ask him why he’d probably say that he was too busy trying to teach her the principles of Kung Fu and raise her to be an incredible warrior. But he now realized how much he was deceiving himself, the real reason for his abnormal parenting was because of what had happened with his son Tai Lung. He feared that if he raised her the same way that she would follow in Tai Lung’s footsteps, and he regretted ever thinking that. Because in raising her this way, he had deprived her of many things that most children would have thought normal, such as joy, friends and most importantly, love. However, he had surprisingly been overjoyed when she had taken a liking to the Panda. He felt that their relationship would help to give her what he had deprived her for so long, and it did, but now seeing as how Po had been captured and taken away he knew that this would take a great toll on her. “I know that the loss of Po has taken a toll emotionally on you, but you must be strong and fulfill your promise to him.” Shifu said almost apologetically to his heartbroken daughter. “You don’t understand! He was everything to me! And just after I have the happiest day of my life, everything was taken away!” Tigress said emotionally at her adoptive father. “I do understand. There was a time when I raised my son, he was my pride and joy, he meant everything to me. And in just a day, all that I had loved and treasured was destroyed.” Shifu replied looking down at the ground sadly. “I...I...Sorry father, I’m just...” Tigress said apologetically “It’s okay Tigress, just make sure that you fulfill your promise to Po and look after the Cub.” Shifu said as he began to walk back to the Palace.

 

“Speaking of Hao, where is he? And how is he doing?” Tigress said in a slightly concerned voice. “He is merely eating breakfast in the dinning room with the others, I suggest you join them.” Shifu said with a small smile on his face. “Well I’d better get there before he gets into any trouble...” She said as she stood up and began to make her way back to the Palace as well. “You know, you would make an excellent mother for the Cub...After all look at how concerned over him you are...” Shifu joked. Tigress just smiled at this and didn’t even try to deny this. Ever since she had met Hao, she had felt differently towards him than she had towards other children, she felt more protective and also had more trust towards the Cub than any other child. This was a new for her, never before had she felt this way about a young child, however she didn’t dislike it. Instead she felt stronger and felt more determined to give the Cub a parent figure which he didn’t have at the present time. “You know, he really resembles the Dragon Warrior, at least his appetite does...” Shifu once again joked. “That he does...” Tigress said as she smiled and went on her way to the Palace with Shifu following her.

 

**Meanwhile back in the Dinning Room**

 

“Take that!” Hao said as he held several of the action figures that he had found inside Po’s room. He was playing with the action figures at the moment, namely the figures of Tai Lung and Kai the spirit Warrior. To him, these two figures looked like the coolest and strongest of all the figures so he decided to play with them imaginably. He had just finished his breakfast which to be honest, wasn’t a bad meal, certainly nowhere near as good as the noodle soup that he had eaten the previous night. The breakfast at the Jade Palace would usually consist of Po’s cooking, but since he had been taken away, Shifu had ordered several Palace servants to prepare a meal for the Masters and Hao. They had prepared dumplings, bean buns and several types of tea (One of them being Jasmine Tea for Tigress) Hao had thanked the cooks and helped himself to many of the bean buns and dumplings for he was very hungry this morning. In fact, Hao was very often hungry, the food at the Orphanage hadn’t been the best in the world and the caretaker was not always able to feed all the children all the time so he would skip meals from time to time. “Oh no! You’ve defeated me!” Hao said to himself as he spoke from the perspective of Tai Lung. “Aha! My skill was too much for you oh mighty Tai Lung!” The Cub continued to play. “Stop right there Kai! You’re going to pay for all your evil schemes!” Hao said to himself as he took out the action figure of Master Tigress that Po had given him. “You’ll have to beat me first oh powerful Master Tigress!” Hao kept on playing. He really enjoyed playing with the action figures as he had not had the privilege of toys at the Orphanage.

 

“Having fun aren’t we?” Hao heard a voice call from at the entrance to the dinning room which startled him. “Ah! Oh...Good morning Master Viper!” He said realizing who had called to him. Viper smiled at this, the second she met the Cub, she realized how similar he was to Po, it was almost uncanny. “Good morning Hao, did you sleep well last night?” Viper kindly said to the Cub. “I slept great! That bed is very comfortable!” He said happily. Viper just giggled at the cub’s excited demeanor. Then the two heard new voices “Good morning Viper. Oh! Good morning Hao!” Said Crane as he Monkey and Mantis all entered the room to have their breakfast. “Good Morning Master Crane!” Hao respectfully replied. Once the masters sat down at the table they began to converse about numerous topics. “Too bad Po isn’t here to cook, I really miss his soup!” Mantis said as he chewed on a bean bun. Hao then responded “Wait, Po’s a cook too?” Monkey replied to the Cub’s question “Yeah! Hes an excellent one too! He can prepare amazing meals in just minutes and he makes the most delicious noodle soup in China!” “Wow! That’s awesome! I bet he learned how to cook from his dad! His dad is also an awesome cook!” Hao remembered to the night before and how tasty the noodle soup was that he had tried. All the others laughed at this, they loved the Cub’s innocence and excited demeanor. Then they all heard another voice at the entrance to the dinning room “Good morning everyone.” They all looked at the entrance and saw Tigress wearing her blue training vest and also wore Po’s golden cloak, she had been wearing the cloak ever since Po had given it to her before he left, but they didn’t notice until now how good it looked on her. “Good morning Tigress!” The others including Hao replied to the Tiger Master. “Good Morning Hao, did you sleep well?” Tigress kindly said to the Cub. “Great! That bed was really comfortable!” Hao said happily. “That’s good, because today is going to be a long day.” Tigress replied to the Cub. She then continued “If you’re finished your meal could you follow me?” “Okay Master Tigress.” he said as he hopped off his seat and ran up to the female Tiger. “Oh, and Shifu wanted you all to continue your normal exercises.” Tigress spoke to the other four members of the Furious Five. “Don’t worry Tigress, he already told us.” Viper kindly replied for the rest of the four. “Very well, now Hao, follow me.” Tigress said as her and the little Cub exited the room and left down the hallway. Once the two were out of earshot Mantis blurted out “so is Tigress now that kid’s mother?” The others just laughed at this.

 

Tigress led Hao down the hallway and heard him ask “Master Tigress, can I ask what you meant when you said today was going to be a long day?” Tigress smiled as she said “well Hao, I intend to give you your first lesson into learning Kung Fu.” Hao’s eyes lit up in excitement and he said “really!? That’s gonna be so awesome!” Tigress slightly giggled at how adorable the Cub was when he got excited “Yes Hao it is, but first we’re going to find you some clothing that you can train in.” She said. The cub followed Tigress to her room and she said “Stay here for a second.” She entered her room and left Hao in the hallway. She came back a couple of seconds later with what looked to be a red training vest as well as a pair of black training pants. Tigress offered them to the Cub and said “These were mine when I was just a Cub about your age, they should fit you.” Hao responded as he took the pieces of clothing “thank you master Tigress! They look great!” She nodded in approval and the Cub took the new clothing into his room, or rather Po’s room to change into. When he exited the room, Hao said “they fit great! How do I look?” Tigress smiled as she said “like a true warrior.” She was looking at the white Tiger Cub in who now wore her old clothes, and she thought ‘he really reminds me of myself...’ Hao smiled as well and asked “so what do I do now?” “Well, now follow me to the training hall and I will teach you your first lesson.” Tigress responded as she began to lead the Cub to the training hall.

 

Two hours went by as Tigress assessed Hao’s abilities as well as taught him many basic techniques such as basic defensive stances. Right now she was teaching him how to calm his mind and body through meditation. “Breathe, just breathe.” She said calmly to the Cub who was sitting down on the floor in the lotus position which she had just taught him. “Let your mind and body relax, and just breathe.” Hao seemed to look relaxed but his mind was anything but relaxed, right now he was feeling impatient and wanted the training to be over. He had been training for several hours and he really just wanted to something else. However, he stuck with it and listened to his teacher guiding him through the steps. “Just let the universe flow around you.” Tigress said in a calming manner, she was trying to make the Cub as relaxed as possible to allow him to meditate peacefully, however she could sense that the Cub wasn’t exactly feeling calm. Even though his eyes were closed she could easily tell that he was uneasy due to the impatient look he had on his face. “Is everything alright Hao?” She asked feeling slightly concerned. “I’m sorry Master Tigress, I’m just bored right now. I know that meditation helps a lot, but I just...” Hao explained as he opened his eyes. Tigress wasn’t surprised by the Cub’s response, meditation wasn’t exactly the most entertaining thing to do, especially for a young and enthusiastic Cub such as Hao. But then she thought of what Hao had just said, ‘Master Tigress.’ She then responded “Hao, you know, you don’t have to call me that...I mean you don’t have to call me your master.” Hao seemed puzzled by what his teacher had just said “Then what do you want me to call you?” Tigress smiled as she replied “Mother? Although it’s fine if you don’t see me like that...” Just then she felt her right leg being clutched, it was Hao giving her a big hug. So she got down to the Cub’s level and hugged him back. As he was hugging Tigress he said “I’ve always wanted a mom...” Tigress was touched by the Cub’s affection, she just hugged him tightly. She remembered when she was his age that she had wanted to have parents, and though Shifu had adopted her and given her a home, he had never really showed her much affection and truly acknowledged her as his daughter. Right now she felt that it was more important to give the Cub wanted instead of what she wanted, so she just kept hugging him.

 

After a couple of moments of a tight loving embrace, Tigress let Hao go and said “so is there anything else you want to do?” Hao was very content right now, for as long as he could remember, what he had wanted more than anything were parents, the Caretaker of the Orphanage had always been kind towards him, but even she had been afraid of his strength. Now he felt that he had what he had wanted for so long, a loving and caring mother. Then he responded to his new mother’s question “Actually, all the training today has made me really hungry! Is there anything for lunch?” Tigress couldn’t help but laugh at her new son’s response ‘he really does have an appetite like Po’s.’ She thought happily as she remembered how similar Hao was to her boyfriend once again. “I have an idea Hao, how about we go down to the village to eat? I seem to recall that you really loved that noodle soup from Mr Ping’s shop?” She replied to the Cub. Hao then remembered how much he had loved the noodle soup from the day before “You mean from Po’s Dad’s shop? Yeah! That noodle soup was the tastiest meal I’ve ever had!” The Cub said getting exited once again. “Then it’s settled, down to the village we go!” Tigress said happily. “Thanks Mom!” Hao said happily as well. Tigress then smiled as she picked up the happy Cub in her arms and let him ride on her shoulders as they left the training hall and went on their way to the village.

 

Just outside the training hall watching the spectacle was Shifu. He had been watching for about five minutes, and was honestly surprised that neither Tigress nor Hao had even noticed him, he wasn’t even trying to conceal himself. However right now he felt an enormous amount of pride, his daughter had just accepted the young Tiger Cub as her own son and had given him the one thing he needed the most, a mother. Shifu nearly began crying as he was so proud of his daughter, she easily could have kept teaching the Cub the ways of Kung Fu, but instead she decided to give her attention to him instead. ‘I’m glad she didn’t make the same mistake as I did...’ Shifu thought to himself as a tear left his right eye in joy.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 12

 

Comfort in Discomfort

 

“He’s regaining consciousness, make sure he is restrained!” A voice said. Po began to open his eyes slowly, the last thing he remembered was being tackled by at least 20 Gorilla thugs and passing out shortly after from blood loss. He opened his eyes and saw a light above his head which looked to be a large candle, just then he began to feel pain from his right pectoral muscle. ‘Son of a B****.’ Po thought as he remembered that he had been shot in the chest by an arrow just before he had passed out. He then looked over to his right and saw the flesh wound in his chest, however for some reason it had been treated and was wrapped in white bandages. ‘what the hell?’ He thought as he turned his head to the other side and saw that his wrists were held in by tight leather straps. ‘Why did someone wrap my wounds? And why are my hands restrained?’ But then, he heard a familiar voice “A valiant escape attempt Dragon Warrior.” Po began to growl angrily as he knew exactly who’s voice this was. “I must say, I’m impressed you knew to set fire to the gunpowder, your cunning is truly great.” Po heard Akuma talking from right behind his head, he was extremely angry right now, he just wanted to destroy that persistent bastard. “Nonetheless, I don’t take lightly to those who destroy my things.” Akuma said in an irritated tone. Po then gathered all his strength and broke the leather straps right off that held him to the operating table that he was lying on and stood on his feet. He heard another person in the room gasp in fear, however he ignored it and turned around. He saw steel bars and behind them was the Komodo Dragon who said “I could have easily killed you Dragon Warrior, however I still need you, so how about you don’t cause any more trouble?” Po just growled angrily as he starred down the reptilian. Akuma then let out a small chuckle and left from the bars and went down the hallway. Po was still in an angered state and felt like smashing those steel bars out of their place, however he noticed just then the pain in his left thigh. He remembered to before he had been attacked by the thugs, he had been shot in the left thigh, he growled in pain and anger before he heard another voice in the room say “Don’t push yourself right now, your body needs time to recover.”

 

He turned himself around to face the origin of the voice, it was a female Brown Bear wearing a black robe as well as black pants. “And who are you supposed to be?” Po said in a slightly rude manner. “I’m supposed to be your healer, and as such I recommend that that you settle down and get your rest so I can continue addressing your wounds.” Her voice sounded nervous but at the same time she seemed assertive. “And why should I trust you?” Po said with very little fidelity and also in a cold manner. “If I hadn’t helped you when I did you would have been dead.” The Brown Bear said as she crossed her arms. Po just starred at the Brown Bear skeptically and he limped back to the table that he had been on before not taking his eyes off the female Bear. He sat down and kept starring at the her and did not say a word as he cracked his shoulders and knuckles. From the perspective of the female Bear, she seemed very nervous as the strong and angry looking Panda Bear limped closer to her, then to her relief he sat down, probably as a means to say ‘okay, just do your job.’ So the Brown Bear nervously approached Po to address some of his wounds that she hadn’t already treated. Po just allowed the female bear to lift his left foot and roll up the pant leg on his left foot, he didn’t mind that she was getting quite close as he only wanted for her to treat his wounds. “I never did get your name.” She asked while she was washing out the puncture wound on Po’s lower left thigh. “Po.” He replied coldly. “I see, so exactly why are you here Po?” The Bear responded trying to learn more about the Panda Bear. “I was captured while trying to protect the children of an orphanage by your master and now here I am.” Po once again replied in a cold manner. “You think I want to serve that monster? You really don’t understand what I’ve been through do you?” The female Brown Bear responded in an irritated way. Po just kept starring at the female Bear with an expression that said ‘go on.’ Seeing the look on his face, she continued “I was just a young teenager when Akuma raided my village, his men took all of the valuables and also enslaved many of us who were young able workers. I was one of these people, and ever since, I have had to be the healer for him against my own will. He took everything from me...My friends...My family...” The female Bear began to get very emotional. Po’s jaw just lay open as he listened to the female Bear’s story, he couldn’t believe how similar her story was to how Po’s was when he was a cub. He remembered how his village had been raided by Lord Shen and the wolves when he was just a cub, this instantly made him feel compassion and sympathy for the female Bear and he simply said “I’m so sorry.” She just looked up at the Panda and said “Thank you.”

 

While the female Bear kept addressing his wounds, Po thought of something that she said ‘Akuma raided my village.’ He then thought ‘Akuma means demon in Japanese, but he isn’t a real demon, if he was then I would have known.’ He then looked at the female Bear and said “Hey...Um I’m sorry for how I behaved towards you earlier Mrs...” “Ni, Bao Ni, and don’t worry about it, I can understand why you dislike Akuma, after all he did take you from your village.” Po angrily growled at this, and not because of Akuma, but rather because he had also been taken from his new love. Bao Ni looked worried at this, she had seen how the Panda reacted when he was angry and she backed off a bit. Po noticed this and apologized “forgive me, I have just been a bit more uptight lately than usual.” She sighed in relief and said “I see...” She then got back to helping to treat the wound on his leg. “Okay, I’ve finished washing out the wound, now I’m going to apply the disinfectant. However this might sting a bit, it’s made using Scorpion Venom.” Po wasn’t worried at all about this, he had spent the last two months numbing his muscles against pain by punching the ironwood trees, obviously he could feel the pain when the arrows pierced through his flesh, however this would most likely not faze him. “Sure, go ahead.” He said without any concern in his voice. Bao Ni was surprised by this, most of the patients around the camp that she had to treat would always shy away from the disinfectant, but this Panda didn’t even care. “Okay then.” She said as she took a rag and dabbed it into the disinfectant, then she began taping Po’s wound with the disinfectant. During this, Po hardly even flinched, he felt only a slight tingle where she had applied the disinfectant, this surprised Bao Ni as she had never had a patient who was this resilient to pain. She then finished applying the solution and bandaged up the wound to prevent further bleeding.

 

After she finished this she got curious, in all her life she had never seen a live Panda until now, however she had heard that they were easygoing and quite robust, almost the opposite of what this one was like. So she asked “may I ask how you got so um...athletically toned? I haven’t ever seen a Panda, but I’ve heard that they tend to be quite robust.” she felt embarrassed while asking this question, she had never really noticed others for their physical look. Po almost laughed as he said “well, I can tell you that I definitely didn’t start off looking like this. You see I used to be quite undisciplined and unfocused, however I recently became a teacher of Kung Fu and so I wanted to get myself into better physical shape. I trained extremely hard for several straight months and now I look like this.” Po pointed to his chest as he said this. Bao Ni blushed and looked away, she didn’t know why she suddenly felt so awkward. Po noticed this and asked “Are you alright?” Trying to get a hold of herself, she answered “Y-Yes I’m fine.” Po was confused with the female bear’s behavior but he decided to back off to make her more comfortable. Bao Ni had regained her composure and she said “sorry about that, I just got...Distracted...” She then thought ‘what is it about this Panda? I have never felt this way around anyone else...’ She was interrupted from her thoughts as Po rose from the table and stood up rolling his pant leg down. “Thank you.” The Panda said to the female Brown Bear as he began to walk around testing the strength of his leg. She smiled and replied “Your welcome Po, but can you please promise me that you won’t try to push yourself and hurt yourself again?” Po nodded and watched her walk to the iron bar gates in the room. “Take care of yourself Bao Ni.” Po kindly said. Bao Ni blushed at this and replied “You too Po.” Po made no attempt to escape the room as there were nearly 10 tough armed guards guarding the entrance to the room.

 

After Bao Ni had left, Po sat down in the right back corner of the room, and he got into the lotus position and calmed his mind. He began to meditate to clear his mind and also help his muscles to recover more quickly. Normally he would use his Chi to heal others, however it was unfortunately impossible to heal himself from his injuries, he had tried this but had no success, sometimes after punching the ironwood trees in the forest behind the Palace he would attempt to heal his bleeding knuckles using Chi but it would never work. For the moment, he was saving his chi and keeping himself very calm. Well, calm until he heard a familiar voice, “Well Dragon Warrior, now that you’re in a condition to walk, how about you follow me?” Akuma said slightly chuckling. Po resisted the urge to growl angrily at the Komodo Dragon. He then stood up, several guards accompanied Akuma into the room as they opened the door. “Lovely girl she is isn’t she?” Akuma taunted Po as he was now standing right in front of the Panda. Po knew that the reptilian was trying to get under his skin so he didn’t respond to this. Akuma then continued “now, follow me, I’d like to show you to your new room.” Po allowed the two guards to cuff his arms with the steel shackles, and he followed Akuma who led the way. They walked over to a very dark prison cell, down the hall. The cell had no windows or lighting of any kind, and from where he was, he could see that the cell was quite dirty just like the last one he had been held in. “Home sweet home Dragon Warrior.” Akuma joked as he ordered his men to throw Po into the cell. His men then removed the shackles from Po’s hands. “I figured that shackles would be little use against you.” Akuma said and then continued “Now how about you behave this time?” Akuma said as he evilly laughed. The guards then exited the room and locked the steel bar door behind them. “I really hope you find this place more...hospitable than the other place.” Akuma taunted Po once again. Po just sat down and watched Akuma while in the lotus pose, he ignored all of Akuma’s taunts and began to meditate. “It looks like the Dragon Warrior is not interested...Well I assure you, when your friends are endangered you will definitely pay attention.” Akuma threatened. This nearly struck a nerve with Po, threats against him did not faze him, he was used to it, however when anyone threatened his friends he would immediately become defensive. However, this time Po kept his composure and kept his eyes closed not showing any weakness. “Very well, it seems that the Dragon Warrior is not interested in speaking right now.” Akuma said as he and his men left the cell and walked down the hallway.

 

Though this room had nearly no light and was very dirty, Po somehow felt more comfort and ease being in this room than the other. This time there were no shackles holding his arms in place, however there were two armed guards that stood guarding the cell. He still sat in the lotus position and was meditating to pass the time, however he was fatiguing and he soon fell asleep in the same sitting position.

 

“Psst!” Someone whispered. Po then opened his eyes and looked for the origin of the sound, when he looked up, he saw Bao Ni who was clutching the bars on the door looking nervous. “Po!” She whispered again. “Yes?” Po whispered back not knowing what the female Brown Bear wanted. “I know we didn’t get much time to talk earlier so I wanted to tell you something because this may be the last time I’ll see you.” She whispered again. ‘I hope she isn’t going to say what I think she is.’ Po thought, not liking where this was going. He then also wondered where the two guards that were guarding his cell earlier had gone. Bao Ni looked flustered and she wondered ‘should I tell him? I just met him, but...’ “I-I love you Po.” She struggled to get out. ‘And she did say what I thought she was going to say...’ Po thought, he then looked down, almost in shame. Right now he felt horrible, Bao Ni had no idea of his relationship with Tigress and so he knew that it was going to be hard on her to know. “Bao Ni...I’m sorry I never told you but...I actually have a girlfriend.”

 

Bao Ni was nearly heartbroken upon hearing the Panda’s words, here she thought she had found the love of her life only to find that he already had a soulmate. Po once again said “I’m so sorry I never told you, I just didn’t know you felt this way towards me...” The female Brown Bear then said “It’s okay, I get it. How long have you been with her?” Bao Ni asked in an understanding tone. This came as a huge surprise to Po, he did not expect Bao Ni to react in this way, but he answered her question all the same. “I’ve known her since I was a teenager, however we only got together about a week ago. In fact, the same day that I was captured by Akuma was the same day that we went on our first date...” Po said as he looked away almost as if he was distracted, and he was, right now he was thinking about Tigress and their first date. It had been perfect, it had been everything he wanted, and then that Komodo Dragon had to ruin everything. Bao Ni simply listened to the Panda’s story in angst, she couldn’t imagine being in the Panda’s shoes right now, having been taken away from one’s love. “If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine-” She said not wanting to upset the Panda before she was interrupted by him. “Her name was Tigress, and she was the most beautiful, strong and determined woman I have ever met. She was a beautiful female Tiger with the most amazing amber eyes, and the most protective personality. I know it sounds ridiculous for a Panda to love a Tiger, but I really didn’t care, I loved her more than anything. And now, I miss her dearly...” Po said while looking off into the distance. Bao Ni just kept listening to the Panda, he sounded very sad and regretful, he obviously really loved this Tiger, and being taken from her had really taken it’s toll on him. “Well, you’ll get her back eventually! I know you will!” Bao Ni said encouragingly to the Panda to lift his spirits and she reached through the space between the bars and held the Panda’s hand. Po simply looked up and held her hand up as he said “I know, I made a promise to her that I would return. And god knows what she would do to me if I broke that promise...” Po joked as he remembered how Tigress would get if anyone would defy her.

 

The Bao Ni let go of the Panda’s hand and looked both ways of the hallway “The guards will probably return soon, I’ll need to get out of here before they catch me talking to you.” “I was going to ask where the guards went. I assume it had something to do with you?” Po said with a slight smirk on his face. “Yeah, I tricked them and told them that Akuma wanted to speak with them, and I told them that I would bring two other guards to look after you.” Po then smiled as he said “Not bad. You are very talented Bao Ni...” Bao Ni smiled and said “I’ll come to see you again tomorrow, same time?” Po then raised an eyebrow as he was about to say “I don-” “It’s settled then, same time tomorrow.” Bao Ni and then she stood up and winked at the Panda and then left swiftly but also quietly to avoid getting caught. Po was dumbstruck right now, he had wanted to tell the Brown Bear that he didn’t even know what time it was due to the lack of light. But then he smiled to himself as he thought ‘She’s a character...’

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 13

 

Culinary Passion

 

As Tigress walked down to the entrance to the Jade Palace, she thought many things, Po’s condition being one. But as she walked towards the gates she heard her new son shout “Hey Mom! Watch this! I can jump down the stairs really fast!” Tigress by instinct shouted “Hao! No!” And she ran towards her the Cub as quickly as she could, she didn’t want for the Cub to hurt himself on the stairs so she ran on all fours to catch up to her new son. Hao looked back at his mother surprised, he didn’t know why she was so worried, he was just going to jump down those stairs and-. The Cub then accidentally slipped and began to fall, but then “gotcha!” Tigress said as she caught the Cub by his left arm just before he fell down the stairs. Hao gasped as he looked below him to see how far the descent would have been had he fallen. “Hao, please don’t do things like that! I nearly had a heart attack!” Tigress angrily snapped at the Cub having been worried by his terrible judgment. “I’m sorry Mom, I just wanted to get the noodle shop fast!” The Cub said with an ashamed look on his face that looked very adorable at the same time. Tigress couldn’t help but adore her Cub’s facial expression however she responded sternly “I understand Hao, however don’t want to ever see you pull reckless stunts, you could get seriously hurt!” Hao nodded and said “sorry mother.” Tigress smiled at her son’s sincerity, and she replied “It’s okay Hao, now how about I tell you a fun story while on the way down?”

 

“You mean Po used to fall down these stairs a lot!?” Hao said as he was laughing. Him and Tigress were on their way down the stairs and Tigress thought she would tell Hao a funny story about how Po used to fall down the 1000 steps. “He sure did, that Panda used to have a knack for being clumsy, in fact he used to really dislike stairs in general. There was one time when ha was so exhausted that we had to get a large gorilla to carry him all the way up the stairs.” Tigress said as she chuckled slightly at the thought of Po’s past rivalry with stairs. Hao laughed at this and asked “so how did he fall down the stairs the first time!?” At this Tigress remembered back to the time the Panda had fallen down the stairs the first time…

 

‘But a real warrior never quits! Don’t worry Master! I will never quit!

 

“ **Pow!”**

 

“Ow-Oh-Ow-” (Po falling down the stairs)

 

“If he’s smart he won’t come back up those steps.”

 

“But he will...”

 

“He’s not gonna quit, is he?”

 

“He’s not gonna quit bouncing, I can tell ya that.”

 

‘I can’t believe how mean we were to him...’ She thought after reliving this memory. She then said to the Cub “let’s just say that Shifu got a little...‘Impatient’ with him...” Hao just laughed and said “wow! Po must have done something really bad to annoy Shifu!” This only made Tigress feel worse, because in truth Po had not done anything wrong. He hadn’t asked to be the Dragon Warrior, or to be misjudged by the Five and Shifu. They had simply deemed him unworthy without giving him a chance. “Well, you could say that...” Tigress responded to her Cub, not wanting to reveal the real reason.

 

“Wow, I can smell the soup from all the way over here!” Hao exclaimed excitedly. ‘If his appetite is this big right now, I can’t imagine how much he’ll need to eat when he really starts to grow...’ Tigress thought skeptically as she imagined how much the Cub would eat in the years to come. “Common Mom! Let’s go! It’s almost lunch time! And I’m starving!” Tigress just sighed happily and followed her son while shacking her head and thinking ‘I stand corrected.’ Hao ran over to the noodle shop as quickly as he could, to say he was hungry would be an understatement, he was starving. He arrived at the shop with Tigress close behind, he peeked into the shop and saw many of the seats in the restaurant were taken, the place was busy. Hao and Tigress then walked up to the front of the shop and saw a large Panda bear with a green vest and green pants. He was working in the kitchen stirring a cauldron filled with hot water and many other ingredients. He looked quite a bit older than Po judging by how his black fur looked slightly more gray, he was also a considerable amount larger around the waist than Po. “Excuse me sir, but would you happen to work at this restaurant?” Hao asked politely trying to get the large Panda’s attention. “Oh, why hello little one! I most certainly do work here! After all it is called ‘Ping & Shan’s noodles’.” The large Panda kindly said as he emphasized the ‘Shan’s’ part. Hao smiled and said “That’s great! Could I please get a bowl of noodle soup?” Li Shan smiled as he said “absolutely! One bowl of noodle soup coming up!” It was then that Li Shan noticed that Master Tigress had been standing right beside the young Tiger Cub. “Oh Master Tigress! I’m sorry I didn’t notice you there, is this little guy related to you?” Li Shan said respectfully. Tigress chuckled and replied “well Mr Shan, this is my son Hao Liang.” Li stood there dumbstruck “Wait, I didn’t know you had a son?” Li asked trying to get an explanation. Tigress just chuckled again as she said “I just recently adopted him from the Bao Gu Orphanage.” Li then understood what she meant “ahh! I get it, goodness you had my imagination going wild there!” Tigress laughed at this, ever since she had met Po’s other father Li Shan, she always noticed how similar the two were in terms of personality. “Now can I get anything for you Master Tigress?” Li asked nicely. “Perhaps a cup of Jasmine Tea along with a small bowl of spicy noodle soup.” She responded. “You got it! One bowl of noodle soup along with a small bowl of spicy noodle soup and a Cup of Jasmine Tea coming up!” Li enthusiastically said. Tigress then said one last thing before she sat down “Mr Shan...Sorry about Po, I tried to convince him to stay but-” “It’s alright Tigress, he will come back, I know it.” Li said.

 

“Was that Po’s other Dad?” Hao asked as he and Tigress sat down at an open table. Tigress nodded and said “Yes, that is Po’s first father, when he was young, Po was separated from his parents along with the rest of the Pandas.” She responded with a bit of sadness in her voice. Hao listened to his mother tell him about Po’s parents, however he wanted to know why they had been separated from each other so he asked “Mom, how did they get separated?” Tigress didn’t really want to reveal this to the Cub, mostly because she believed he was too young to handle the sad story, however she eventually sighed sadly and said “well Hao, I don’t believe that Po likes to talk about the subject, and I’m pretty sure I was the only one that he told the story to. But when Po was just a little Cub, probably younger than you, his village was abruptly attacked by an evil warlord named Lord Shen. To protect him, Po’s father held off the attackers while Po’s mother escaped with him in her arms. However, she wasn’t fast enough to completely escape from them and they pursued her and Po until Po’s mother made a loving and motherly sacrifice. She hid him inside a box of radishes and then...” Tigress paused in sadness and then continued “And then she led the attackers away from him, but allowing herself to be caught.” Tigress was almost on the brink of tears, she had heard this story before from her boyfriend, but recounting it herself had made her feel very depressed and sorrowful. Hao listened to the story and was shocked at how traumatizing Po’s childhood was and asked “but he found his Dad again, so isn’t everything better now?” Tigress just frowned as she said “Well, yes but...But his mother...She didn’t make it...”

 

“How about some food to cheer up those sad faces!” Li Shan said in a happy manner as he set down to bowls of soup as well as a hot cup of Jasmine tea. This immediately lightened the mood at the table as Hao forgot all about being sad and directed all of his focus to the meal in front of him. “Awesome! Thank you Mr Shan!” Tigress also smiled, though she was more smiling because of her Cub’s behavior rather than the food. “Thank you Mr Shan, it looks great as always.” Tigress thanked Li kindly as she paid him for the food. Li laughed as he noticed that the Cub had immediately dug into the noodle soup almost as if he had been food deprived for days. “Wow, this kid would even give a Panda a run for their money!” Li joked to Tigress as he chuckled. Tigress smiled and said “I’ll bet he would.” Li then nodded and said “well you guys enjoy! I have to get back to the customers, you know how they are at this time of day...” Just then Li heard a noisy customer calling to him at the front “Okay! I’m coming! Just wait a second!” Li lastly said to Tigress “don’t worry, he will return, he never quits.” Tigress sighed as she said “I know...”

 

During the time in which they ate, many of the residents who had come to the shop to eat noticed Master Tigress was at the shop, and since the Masters of the Jade Palace were very well known in the valley of peace, Tigress got a lot of attention. Many of the younger kids at the restaurant wanted for Tigress to sign many of their belongings as many of them were big fans of the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior. Tigress was used to this, ever since she and the five had won their fist battle against Boar, her along with most of the other Kung Fu masters had become almost like celebrities and would always get a lot of attention from the residents whenever they would come down to the village. She kindly signed the kid’s belongings and returned to eating her meal. “Why, Master Tigress! Little Hao! I trust you two are enjoying your meals today?”

 

Tigress and Hao heard Mr Ping say to them. Hao looked over to Mr Ping who was waddling over to them and said “Absolutely Mr Ping! It’s just as good as it was yesterday!” Mr Ping just smiled at the Cub’s compliment, he took great pride in his work and wanted to run the shop forever, however with Po being the Dragon Warrior, nobody would inherit the shop any day soon. This Cub seemed to really love his soup though and thinking of this gave Mr Ping an idea. “I’m glad you enjoy it so much Hao, you know I’ve been running this shop for a long time and I have never seen anyone who likes my soup as much as you do!” Hao looked surprised and replied “really? But your soup is the best thing I’ve ever tasted!” Mr Ping smiled as he said “yes, and I have a feeling just from looking at you that you could also be an excellent cook!” Hao’s eyes shot up as he said “you really think so Mr Ping!?” “Yes Hao, I do think so...I have run this shop ever since I was a little Gosling, and I have never seen anyone so happy and enthusiastic! You may not be a chef right now, but if you are willing to practice and learn then I have no doubt that you would be a prodigy of a chef!” Mr Ping responded trying to boast about the Cub’s qualities, in truth Mr Ping really did think these things though he was mostly bragging about the Cub so that he could get Hao to work in the restaurant and help him out. “And You know what Hao? If you’d like, I can teach you to cook if you want to learn how.” Hao was delighted to hear this, ever since he had tasted the noddle soup for the first time, he had wanted to know how it was made, and also how many of the other items on the restaurant’s menu were made. “You really want to teach me how to cook? That would be awesome!” Mr Ping smiled once again at the Cub’s enthusiasm, but then he realized something “I absolutely would, but I believe you should ask your Mother first.” Tigress who had been listening to the two talk was taken back by the statement made by the Goose ‘how did he know that I’m Hao’s new Mom?’ She thought to herself. “Mom, can I learn how to be a cook with Mr Ping? I really want to learn how to be a chef!” The Cub asked his adoptive mother almost like he was begging. Tigress just smiled and replied “of course Hao, I just need for you to finish by 4:00 so that we may return to the Palace.” At this Hao was thrilled, he shot his arms up in the air as he said “Yay! Thanks Mom! I’ll make sure I’m done by 4:00.” He then ran into the kitchen and started talking to Li Shan who was busy cooking the meals. Mr Ping and Tigress simply shook their heads while smiling at the Cub’s adorable behavior until Tigress said “how did you know?”

 

“That you’re his new adoptive mother? Well, you do know that I adopted Po don’t you?” Mr Ping replied. “Yes I know that but, how did you know I was Hao’s mother? I don’t remember telling you.” She responded. Mr Ping smiled as he replied “well, I mostly new because of the way you act towards him compared to other children, you are much more protective and also you tolerate the Cub’s antics fairly well. I have to be honest, but raising Po was probably the most difficult thing I have ever done in my life. However, it was also the happiest thing I’ve ever done in my life. I’m glad to see that you care for him so much, because I tell you there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your child grow up and become who they were meant to be.” As Mr Ping said this, he felt great pride in thinking about how his son had become such an excellent person, and although he was slightly disappointed that Po didn’t inherit his family business, knowing that his son was now the protector of China filled his heart with pride. “You’re right, and he deserves a Mom, he has been trough so much and I am already so proud that he is so enthusiastic and willing to learn new things.” Tigress said as she looked over at the Cub who was in the kitchen telling Li Shan how he was now learning to become a chef. “You will be a great Mom to him, just remember to always allow him to follow his **passion**.”

 

**Nearly 4 hours later at the Village square**

 

Tigress was walking back from the Jade Palace after spending the last 2 hours training in the training hall by herself. Having lost Po just the other day, she used training as a means of taking her anger out on something. This wasn’t unusual for her, even before Po had come to the Palace and been named the Dragon Warrior she had used training as a way of blowing off steam to control her temper. And today she had been especially angry seeing as how Po had been taken god knows where by some evil maniac who she had no idea who he was. What angered her the most was that all of this had happened on the day of her first official date with the Panda, just when she had expressed her love to the Panda and he had felt the same about her things were beginning to look happy, and then this happened.

 

Deciding to discard these negative thoughts Tigress focused on getting to the noodle shop and meet Hao there to bring him back to the Jade Palace. She had brought the rest of the Furious Five along with her and they followed closely behind chatting behind her back. “So is Tigress really this kid’s Mom now?” Mantis whispered to the others while he rode on Monkey’s shoulder so they could hear his voice. Crane responded “It would certainly seem so, she spends a lot of time with the young guy, the last time she spent so much time with a child was Lei Lei, but since most of the other Panda’s returned to their village she hasn’t really invested much time with many other children other than this Cub.” Monkey then added “I have to admit guys, just before lunch time today I was heading over to the kitchen to get some almond cookies and I overheard Tigress talking to the Cub in the training hall. I also saw Master Shifu watching the whole thing! He almost looked like he was in a trance, like he had seen something that he had wanted to for a long time. And then I heard Tigress ask the Cub to call her ‘Mother’.” The others simply laughed at this, they knew Tigress very well after having been friends for years. And in all the years of knowing the striped feline, they had never heard her act in this way, she wasn’t known to be a very motherly person or anything similar to that. “What are you guys laughing at?” Monkey said as he couldn’t understand why his comrades were laughing. “Nice one Monkey! You almost had us there!” Mantis joked. “What? You think I’m lying? I heard it happen with my own ears!” Monkey replied slightly frustrated at his friends lack of faith. “It’s just that Tigress doesn’t say things like that.” Mantis replied quietly so that Tigress wouldn’t hear him. “I swear that I heard it happen!” Monkey reaffirmed his position.

 

“I believe him.”

 

“What? Viper! How could you believe that Tigress would say something like that to the Cub?”Mantis said disbelievingly. Viper just had a smug look on her face as she kept slithering on and didn’t respond to the insect’s question. “Umm Earth to Viper!?” Mantis said as he jumped off Monkeys shoulder and followed Viper. “You heard me Mantis, I said I believe him.” Viper responded almost sounding annoyed at the insect’s antics.

 

From up ahead, Tigress was smiling while listening to her friends argue behind her back. In truth, Tigress had heard the whole conversation, what the others didn’t realize was how good her hearing was, since she was a Tiger, her senses and reaction time were much better than most other animals. She didn’t mind them conversing about the subject since she now really was Hao’s mother and didn’t care what anyone else thought about the matter.

 

As they all approached the Noodle Shop they could all smell an excellent fragrance emanating from the kitchen of the shop. “Wow! Whatever that is it smells amazing! Almost as good as Po’s noodle soup!” Mantis and monkey said almost in unison. Tigress had a small grin on her face knowing the source of the fragrance. They entered the shop and were immediately greeted by Li Shan who was delivering several large platters to two tables in the restaurant. “Why look who it is! Master Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five! To what do we owe this pleasure?” Li Shan kindly greeted as the masters walked into the restaurant, the rest of the customers noticed the high profile Kung Fu Masters enter the shop and most bowed in respect for the Masters. “The pleasure is all ours Mr Shan! We just came here because of the amazing food as always!” Viper said trying to talk up the quality of the food of the restaurant. The Five were very good friends of Mr Ping and Li Shan, after all, a friend or relative of Po’s was a friend of theirs, so they took every opportunity to talk up the restaurant. “Splendid! Take a seat right over there and I shall be with you all in just a second!” Li replied as he continued to serve the tables their meals.

 

“So Tigress, why did you bring us here?” Crane asked politely as the Five sat down at a large table in a corner of the shop. “I’m glad you asked Crane, I know we were just here yesterday but I believe we should stay here for Mr Ping and Mr Shan, it’s the least we can do for them knowing that Po is gone.” Tigress said hiding the real reason that they were at the shop. “Thank you all for waiting. Now, what can I do for all of you?” Li Shan said as he stepped up to their table after he had finished serving the other tables. “We’ll have the usual Mr Shan.” Tigress answered for the rest of the group. “Very well, it’ll only take a couple of moments.” Li said as he went to the kitchen.

 

A few minutes latter, Li Shan arrived with a large platter of food for the Five, from several bowls of noodle soup to many other items. “Wow, the food tastes a bit different today, it has a bit more flavor!” Mantis said immediately after taking a sip of his noodle soup. Just then, a very happy voice called out from the kitchen “Mom!” The Five all looked over at the origin of the voice and saw Hao quickly running over to them wearing a white apron over top his training outfit. He ran up to Tigress and hugged her tightly, she hugged him back and said “Hao! How was your time in the kitchen? Did Mr Ping teach you any lessons about cooking?” Tigress said smiling and looking into her son’s eyes. “He sure did Mom! In fact I helped him make those meals for you guys!” Watching the interaction Crane and Mantis’ jaws hung open as they could not believe what the Cub was calling Tigress ‘Mom’. While those two were watching dumbstruck, Viper and Monkey were fighting back the urge to laugh out loud. “Wait, you’re his Mom now Tigress!?” Mantis blurted out having been really confused with the situation. “Yes Mantis, if you must know, Hao is now my son.” Tigress answered impatient with the Insect’s sudden interruption. “Well, I believe that you will make an excellent mother Tigress.” Viper complimented her sister. Tigress smiled and nodded at her sister’s kindness. “So Hao, did you say that you helped to make our meals?” Monkey asked as he changed the subject. “I sure did! I mostly just helped Mr Ping to get all the ingredients while he taught me the steps but I really learned a lot!” Hao answered pridefully. “Well I must say Hao, it tastes absolutely amazing! You might even give Po a run for his money!” Crane complimented the young Tiger Cub. Hao was flattered by the compliment and he said “you really think so?” “Of course! You have a natural talent for cooking! You should consider it as a career!” Monkey said trying to inflate the Cub’s ego even more. “Oh yeah! That reminds me! Mom, Mr Ping asked if I would like to work in the shop from now on! Can I work at the shop with him and Mr Shan?” Hao responded asking his mother for permission. Tigress was very proud to see how happy her new son was and how excited he was to learn more “Of course Hao, if it is truly what you want. However I would like for you to finish everyday by at least 5:00 so that you may come back to the Palace for training.” Hao was thrilled to hear his Mom was allowing him to work in the shop everyday, for he had really enjoyed his time today and wanted to learn even more about cooking and preparing meals. “Really! Thanks Mom! I promise to be done every day by 5:00!” Hao excitedly replied as he ran to the kitchen to inform Mr Ping.

 

Tigress just happily watched her son once again very enthusiastic and excited about being able to follow his passion. “You’ll be a great Mother Tigress, just look at him.” Viper quietly talked to her sister. “Thanks Viper.” Tigress replied while happily watching the Cub’s excitement.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 14

 

Corrupted

 

Po sat in a meditative pose on the cold stone floor of his cell, his eyes closed and his muscles relaxed as he stayed calm and peaceful. He really wasn’t thinking about anything in particular, instead he was focusing on his inner peace, right now he didn’t feel anger or fear or sorrow, he only felt peace. He had been in this cell for nearly a week and was now, though it was difficult to properly judge how long he had really been in there due to the lack of sunlight, however he was now growing accustomed to the tight confines of the cell. Though it lacked many things that normal rooms would have, it wasn’t as bad as it looked-. ‘Aw who am I kidding, this cell is the least hospitable place in the world.’ Po thought sarcastically. He was God knows where very far from home, away from his fathers and his girlfriend. He had thought a lot about Tigress lately, probably because of what he had talked about with Bao Ni the other day, he thought about how she was taking the situation and if she was fulfilling her promise to him and protecting the valley. He then thought of another person, the little white Tiger Cub who he had risked everything for, Hao Liang. ‘That kid deserved to be saved, he deserves everything in this world, I just hope that Tigress will take care of him while I’m away...’ Po thought as he stayed in his meditative pose.

 

“Guards! Master Akuma requests that you two help with the repairs of the powder room.” Po heard a familiar voice talk to the Guards who were stationed at his cell. “Right now? He stationed us here to guard the prisoner.” The guards asked Bao Ni. “Effective immediately, I can make sure the prisoner doesn’t escape while you aid in the repairs.” Bao Ni lied to the guards. This was the fourth time she had come to the Panda’s cell this week, right from the start of knowing the Panda she had grown quite fond of him. Every time she managed to trick the guards, she would talk to Po about various things, his origin, his parents and from time to time Po would ask her questions about her past, though not to many as he knew how traumatic her past was. One of the guards replied “alright healer, but you had better watch him really carefully! We can’t have another powder room blown up now can we?” Bao Ni nodded as she said “Yes Sir.”

 

Once the guards were out of earshot, Bao Ni got close to the bars and said “works every time.” “Bao Ni, you need to be careful if you come here too many times, they might suspect your intentions. You could be in grave danger.” Po replied worriedly, not that he didn’t like the Brown Bear’s presence, but he feared that one of these times she would get caught. “Don’t worry about me Po, I can handle myself.” She replied to him. “I’m just worried for your well being Bao Ni, you have been a great friend and I would hate to see you get into trouble.” Po responded feeling worried. “Po, I told you, it’s my choice to come here to see you, if I get in trouble then I will accept the consequences.”

 

The two talked for nearly 15 minutes until Bao Ni heard footsteps approaching and whispered “someone’s coming, gotta go.” Po just nodded and waved goodbye to his friend as she sneaked away from the cell and waved goodbye to him as well. As his friend left down the hallway far from his cell, he couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong, Bao Ni seemed to be able to trick the guards too easily, this didn’t settle well with the Panda and he felt a bit uneasy from the whole situation. Moments later the Guards who were watching Po before returned to their stations beside each side of Po’s cell door.

 

**Down the hallway with a female Brown Bear**

 

Bao Ni was on her way out of the prison building reflecting on the things that she had talked about with Po at his cell. He had mostly talked about how he actually had two fathers, his adoptive father was apparently a goose who owned a noodle shop, while is birth father was a large Panda who cared for him dearly. Bao Ni loved hearing these kinds of stories, since she was abducted by Akuma at a young age, she hardly had any memory her parents. So it was nice to hear about how much Po’s parents cared for him. As she walked down the hallway, she looked back in the direction of Po’s cell and thought to herself ‘it doesn’t matter what if he doesn’t have feelings for me, we can still be fri-’

 

“ **Bump”**

 

Bao Ni’s thoughts were interrupted as she bumped into something in front of her when she wasn’t looking ahead. However when she looked up to apologize to whoever it was that she bumped into, she saw exactly who it was that she had accidentally walked into. It was Akuma.

 

“Going somewhere? Healer?” Akuma said in an intimidating tone. Bao Ni stuttered as she tried to apologize to her master “S-Sorry Master Akuma! I was just running a diagnosis on the Panda to test his health.” Bao Ni lied to her master as she got up from the ground. “Is that so? So how is the Panda’s condition, Healer?” Akuma said getting very close to the female Brown Bear and making her feel uncomfortable. “U-Uh, he is doing f-fine master...He is recovering well from his injuries...” The female Brown Bear replied to her master feeling very nervous at the present moment. “Really? I don’t suppose you have anything else to report do you Healer?” Akuma responded once again in an intimidating tone of voice. Bao Ni then noticed several armed guards approach from behind her and she anxiously replied “nothing Master Akuma...” She began to walk back from her master to get away when she heard him say “what a shame then.” As Akuma said this, the two guards from behind Bao Ni apprehended her and cuffed her arms behind her back. “What are you doing?! I’ve done nothing wrong!” Bao Ni panicked as she didn’t understand why the guards were arresting her. “Exactly.” Akuma said in a mocking tone to the shocked female Bear. “What!?” She exclaimed not understanding the evil Komodo Dragon’s reasoning behind her arrest. “Just think of it this way my dear, at least you will be able to see the Panda once again.”

 

**Back at a cell inside the prison compound**

 

Po sat on his floor meditating once again, he had been meditating ever since Bao Ni had left, he felt that he had been meditating for nearly 3 hours straight. He was feeling very relaxed and peaceful, right now he was thinking about Tigress, about how much he cared for her and how he hoped she was doing alright right now. Just then he heard the sound of footsteps and something dragging along the floor, he opened eyes and saw several 3 figures, two of which were strong Gorilla guards, the other was Akuma. He was less than thrilled to see the Komodo Dragon, but when he looked closer, he saw that the Gorilla guards were carrying someone by the arms. “Greetings Dragon Warrior, we brought you a gift.” Akuma said in a mocking tone. “No...” Po said as he saw who it was that the Gorilla’s were carrying.

 

They opened the door to Po’s cell and threw a female Brown Bear into the cell. “Bao! Can you hear me!? What have they done to you!?” Po said as he picked up the female Bear’s neck and looked into her closed eyes, he also saw that the female Bear had bruises all over her body and had a black eye. To his dismay she didn’t respond, so he said again “Bao! Please talk to me! What did they do to you!?” Po started to panic as the female Bear hadn’t responded to him. “Do now worry Dragon Warrior, I made sure to leave a little life in her for some last words.” Akuma said with a sly smirk on his face. “You! I will destroy you!” Po said as he got to his feet and charged the Komodo Dragon in his anger, however he was held back by several Gorilla’s who held his shoulders back. Po was so angry though that he still charged forward even with the pair of Guards holding him back, but when he got within a couple of inches from his opponent another two Gorillas pushed him back into the cell. Having finally restrained the Panda, Akuma walked into the cell and said “A shame really, she helped me a lot throughout the years.” Akuma once again mocked the Panda.

 

“Why!? She didn’t do anything to you! She’s innocent! Let her go!” Po angrily yelled at the reptilian. “Po...” “Bao!?” Po heard Bao say to him. “Bao! Talk to me!” The Gorilla guards had let go of Po and he got to the ground and once again held Bao by the bottom of her neck and looked into her eyes again. “Po...” She struggled to speak as she had been beaten nearly to death by Akuma’s thugs. “I’m sorry Bao...I should have protected you! I should have-” Po said before he was interrupted by Bao Ni who put a finger over Po’s mouth. “I-‘Cough!’-told you that I would-‘Cough!’-accept the consequences.” She struggled to say as her lungs really hurt when she spoke. “But you shouldn’t have to pay the price because of me!” Po argued with the Brown Bear. “No- ‘Cough!’-I chose this Po, this was my decision...” Bao Ni once again struggled as she reached out and held Po’s paw. “But-” Po wanted to blame himself again before he was interrupted by the Gorilla guards who once again held Po back from the female Bear, he fought to get out of their hold but was unsuccessful as the strength of the combined guards was too great. Akuma then picked up Bao Ni from her neck and pulled out one of the Kunai throwing knives he had around his waist and held it up to the female Bear’s back. “Stop! Why are you doing this!?” Po asked trying to reason with the reptilian. “I’m just showing you how darkness can consume anything if given the chance.” Akuma said with a smirk as he brought the knife up to where it was just touching the female Bear’s back. “No! Bao!” Po screamed as he desperately tried to get out of the grasp of the guards to go help the female Bear and then…

 

“SSHLUCK!”

 

“NOOOO!!!!!!” Po yelled as he saw the knife stab through Bao’s chest and blood dripped everywhere. Akuma then pulled out the knife and allowed the female Bear allowing her to fall to the ground immobile and bleeding from the puncture wound from her chest. “NO! BAO!” Po yelled as the Gorillas let him go and he ran over to the female Bear. He once again held her neck in his left arm while grabbing her left paw with his right paw. “No! This is my fault! I should have protected you!” Po said in vain to the motionless body of the female Brown Bear. “Cough!-Cough!-Po...I-‘Cough!’-I’m going to be fine…-‘Cough’-Just promise me Po -‘Cough!’-That you will-‘Cough!’-keep protecting the innocents...” Bao Ni struggled to say as she coughed up blood through her lung that were quickly filling with blood. “But I couldn’t even protect you! Stay with me Bao! Just don’t die!” Po almost ordered the female Brown Bear as he began to go through the hand movements to heal her with his Chi. But he was stopped when Bao said “-‘Cough!’-Don’t Po, I will be in a better place now-‘Cough’-I will see my parents again...I...Will...” The female Brown Bear said before her eyes closed and her head fell to the side of Po’s arm. She was dead.

 

As Po just starred town at the now motionless corpse of the female Bear a tear left his face and fell onto the face of his deceased friend. He then rested her body on the floor gently and placed her arms over top of her waist to allow her to rest in peace. “A shame it is really, she was a very good servant.” Akuma taunted Po. “You monstrous bastard!” Po said as he began to growl angrily almost sounding like an untamed feral animal. “I swear you will atone for this!” Po said as he got up and clenched his fists he wanted to pummel that Lizard to the ground at that moment, that sanctimonious bastard would get what he deserved soon enough. Before Po had a chance to lunge at Akuma, the Gorilla thugs restrained the powerful Panda restricting his movement. Akuma then got closer to Po as if taunt him even more, “You know Dragon Warrior I could keep trying to break your spirit, but I don’t think that is necessary. No, I think I will use...Other means to corrupt your mind and heart...” Akuma said with an evil chuckle. He then took out some sort of vial from a pouch on his belt which had some sort of liquid in it, though Po couldn’t tell what type of liquid it was because the Komodo Dragon quickly drank whatever it was. “Now Dragon Warrior, this may feel a bit weird. But if you feel like you’re being...Possessed, then it will have had the right effect.” Akuma said evilly laughing after the last part, then he approached the Panda and said “That last thing I’d like you to know before your mind becomes mine, is that **t** **his isn’t personal**.”

 

Po began to try to get the Gorillas off of him but was unsuccessful, then Akuma opened his mouth with what looked to be saliva dripping from the top of the lizard’s palate. Po was still trying as hard as he could to get out of the hold of all four large Gorillas but he couldn’t get the strong animals off of his arms and before he knew it…

 

“psshh”

 

Po felt several fangs puncture his neck and he immediately felt excruciating pain in both his neck and it quickly spread to his head. This triggered a rush of adrenaline which increased Po’s strength, Po then began to rage and violently shake the Gorilla thugs until the pain became so unbearable that he violently screamed “AARRGGHHHH!”

 

As he watched his thugs struggle to keep the Panda restrained Akuma heard the Panda roar and scream violently as if he was under an intense amount of pain, and he was.

 

Then everything got even more chaotic as Po suddenly threw off all four Gorilla thugs with an incredible amount of strength. Po didn’t even go after the Komodo Dragon as he was in so much pain, he started to almost purposely hit his head and neck in a fit of rage that was now almost scaring Akuma. “GET OUT OF MY HEAD! ARRGGHH!” The panda almost roared as he almost tried to scratch his head right off in an effort to stop the brutal pain. Akuma then began to almost laugh as he said “I wouldn’t try to fight it Dragon Warrior, you’ve just been injected by a powerful neurotoxin which I have infused with dark Chi. It will travel through your bloodstream and reach your brain shortly. But don’t worry, it wont kill you, if you follow my orders... But should you defy me or act on your own, then lets just say that the pain will be...well, less than tolerable...” Akuma said as he laughed evilly. But then to his surprise he felt his neck get scooped up by two very strong hands which clutched his throat hard almost trying to strangle him. Po lifted the Komodo Dragon in the air by the neck and then pounded the reptilian against the wall of the cell, almost breaking the wall in the process. “GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD!” The Panda yelled angrily at the Lizard. Po then raised his arm in preparation to punch the Komodo Dragon as hard as he could. Akuma just laughed and said “go ahead and do it Dragon Warrior! You don’t have the guts!” Po then sent his fist flying in the direction of the Lizard, Akuma closed his eyes and waited to accept his fate and then…

 

“ **POW!”**

 

Akuma opened his eyes and saw that the Panda was still holding on to his neck with one hand, but surprisingly, the Panda had not hit him. Po had instead punched the wall beside Akuma’s head making a hole right through the wall. The Panda then looked like he was becoming calm again and released him to the ground and stepped back. When Akuma looked at the Panda it’s eyes were closed but then it opened it’s eyes and he was instantly satisfied. A dark red aura emitted from the Panda’s eyes and it now had an emotionless face. Akuma hen said to the Panda “Kneel.” The Panda then goton one knee and kneeled without any hesitation at all. The Akuma began to laugh as he yelled “IT WORKED! YES! IT WORKED! NOW THE DRAGON WARRIOR IS MINE TO CONTROL! AND ALL OF CHINA WILL BE MINE!”

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 15

 

Impending Fate

 

“ **POW!”**

 

“ **KAPOW!**

 

“ **CRACK!”**

 

The sounds of wood breaking echoed through the training hall as numerous wooden training dummies were pounded to oblivion. Tigress was training hard at the moment, it had been more than a week since her boyfriend had been taken away from her and taken someplace nobody knew. To cope with her frustration and anger she was sparring with the training dummies and pounding each one of them to pieces. She had done this very often lately, especially after Po had been captured and taken away from the valley. She had just destroyed the tenth dummy in this training session when she heard someone shout “WOW! That was awesome Mom! Could you teach me to how do that!?” Tigress couldn’t help but smile, it had only been about a week and a half since she had adopted Hao from the Orphanage and yet it felt like it had just been yesterday. “Good morning Hao, did you sleep well?” Tigress kindly asked her Cub as she began to clean up the mess of wooden splinters and shards she had made. “Not really Mamma...” Hao replied to his mother sounding worried. Tigress was worried about this, for the last week, the Cub had almost slept like a log every day, however hearing this wasn’t good news. “What’s wrong Hao?” Tigress asked as went over to her son and placed a paw on his shoulder. “Well, it was a nightmare, and Po was in it, and he was in terrible pain, and-” “Slow down Hao, just tell me what happened in your nightmare.” Hao calmed down a bit and replied “okay Mamma, the dream was in a place that I’ve seen before but I can’t remember exactly where it was. I know that it had a large, flat open area which had a yellow circle in the middle. And it also had some steps leading up to a place that had two golden dragon statues.” “The tournament arena...” Tigress said to herself as she recounted the details that her Cub had described. “Ya! That was the place! Anyway, I was at the tournament arena or wherever it was and then I saw Po lying on the ground. But he didn’t look like he normally did, he had bandages all over and he didn’t have his green tunic on. And what really made me scared was that he was scratching the top of his head really hard like he was trying to tear it off. And he just kept scratching the top of his head the whole time, he looked like he was in a lot of pain.” Hao said as he recounted his nightmare to his mother. Tigress didn’t like the way this sounded, she knew it was just a nightmare, however the last time she had ignored someone else’ nightmare it turned out to be true and she was unprepared. But she didn’t want her Cub to worry about this so she simply said to him “well Hao, let’s be glad that it was only a nightmare.” Tigress tried to comfort her Cub who looked like nervous, and rightfully so, a nightmare that horrific could frighten any young Cub. “Is Po going to be okay Mamma?” Hao asked as hugged his mother tightly for comfort. “I don’t know Hao, I don’t know...But I have a feeling that Po will come back soon...” Tigress told the Cub hugging him back trying to comfort him. “You really think so Mamma?” Hao responded with a hint of happiness in his voice. “I do.” She replied.

 

“Good morning you two.” They heard a voice call to them from at the entrance to the training hall. Tigress let her son down and greeted her adoptive father “good morning Master Shifu, I’m sorry for the mess, I was just training.” “Good morning Gandmaster Shifu!” Hao bowed and greeted Shifu. Shifu nearly laughed at this, the Cub seemed to always try to be as formal as possible near him and he just chuckled every time at the Cub’s behavior. “Good morning young Hao, do not worry about the mess Tigress, I will have Zeng and the other Palace servants clean it up later.” Shifu replied to both of the stripped felines. Tigress and Hao both bowed in respect to the Red Panda and they began to leave the room when Shifu spoke again “Master Tigress, may I have a word before you begin your morning routines?” Tigress stopped and replied “sure thing Master. Hao, can you change into your training clothes? I will meet you at the Palace gates in fifteen minutes.” She told her Cub before she faced the Red Panda. “Okay Mamma I’ll leave right now! See you later Grandmaster Shifu!” The Cub said as he rushed off to his room at the Student Barracks. Shifu and Tigress just watched both shaking their heads at the Cub’s adorable antics.

 

“So Master, what would you like to speak to me about?” Tigress said getting to the point. “Tigress, you know you don’t need to call me that when we are in private...” Shifu said as he began to smile. “Sorry, what would you like to speak to me about Father?” She corrected herself. “I was going to commend you on how well you have been taking care of Hao for the last week. It brings me so much pride to see how well you take on the role of his Mother.” Shifu told his adopted daughter with a smile on his face. “Thank you Father, to be honest, that Cub deserves the best life. Now allowing him pursue his passion brings a smile to my face.” Tigress said with a smile on her face as she thought of her son. “That is excellent to hear Tigress, I’m so glad that you took that Cub in and gave him a chance at happiness.” Master Shifu replied to the female Tiger and then continued “there is another matter I wish to discuss with you before you go to the Palace Gates.” “Yes Father? What would that be?” She asked. “I plan to go to the spirit realm to meet an old friend again so I will most likely be away for a while, when you return to the Palace later can you make sure that the others keep up their training?” Shifu said. “Okay Master, I will see to that, however there is also something I wish to tell you before I leave for the Palace Gates.” Tigress replied. Shifu raised an eyebrow and asked “Yes? What would that be?” “Well, I have a feeling that Po will return soon, and I don’t believe that it will not be a happy reunion...” Tigress replied to her adoptive father. “You believe that Po will return? And you say that it won’t be a happy reunion? How do you know this?” Shifu replied having been confused by what his daughter had just told him. “Well, before you came to talk to us today, Hao told me about a realistic nightmare he had last night which involved Po, I know it is only a nightmare but I remember to before Po was captured, he had a lot of realistic nightmares and when we went to rescue the children at the Orphanage, the Komodo Dragon that we fought was the exact same one he had seen in his dreams. In Hao’s dream, he saw Po at the tournament arena suffering some sort of intense pain and trying to fight it.” Tigress answered. “That is most peculiar, and also concerning...But if you are sure that a bad event is approaching, then you must alert the village and let them know what is coming and then evacuate to avoid any casualties.” Shifu said affirmatively. “But that’s the problem Master! I don’t know if anything will happen! The only thing I have to go off of is Hao’s nightmare!” Tigress almost argued with her father. “Well, you must do what you feel is right my daughter.” Shifu said as he began to leave the training hall. “Of course Master.” Tigress answered as she also left the training hall to meet up with her son at the Palace Gates.

 

**Half an hour later at the tournament arena**

 

Tigress and Hao had already left the Jade Palace and were on their way to the village to take Hao to the noodle shop for him to work for Mr Ping in the noodle shop. While the two were on their way to the village, Shifu was balancing on his wooden staff while meditating. At the present moment he was thinking about what he had talked about with Tigress earlier, he was slightly distraught by this. Even before she had told him this, he had felt a disturbance, almost as if someone had just suffered terrible pain and was suddenly silenced. (Star Wars Reference) He didn’t quite know what it was at the time, however, he had a bad feeling that whatever it was, had to be connected to Po somehow.

 

He decided he would consult the issue with his old master in the spirit realm, so he got down from the staff and held it in his hand. Then he grabbed his left index finger with his right index finger and his right thumb, then he flexed his right pinkie finger and then…

 

“ **WOOSH!”**

 

As Shifu performed the Wuxi finger hold on himself, he was shrouded in peach blossoms and a golden Chi energy wave was sent in every direction. He then vanished in thin air and disappeared from the mortal realm.

 

When the elder Red Panda opened his eyes again, he saw a very bright golden sky with many floating islands which had small structures on top of each. “The spirit realm, it worked.” Shifu said to himself as he examined his surroundings. “Master Shifu, I am glad to see that you took my advice and believed.” Shifu heard a familiar voice call his name behind. The Red Panda turned around and was delighted to see his old friend Master Oogway “Master Oogway! It is so good to see you once again!” Shifu exclaimed almost in excitement. “Likewise old friend, may I ask what brings you here?” Oogway asked as he sat on a branch of the peach tree. “Well Master, you see, I originally planned on coming here simply to see you once again, however earlier today my daughter told me something that has me feeling distraught.” Shifu replied sounding a bit worried. “Does it have something to do with the Dragon Warrior being captured by ‘Akuma The Tyrant’?” Oogway responded. “How did you know? And what did you say that Komodo Dragon’s name was again?” Shifu asked, not understanding how Oogway knew exactly what he had wanted to tell him. “Akuma The Tyrant.” Oogway responded clarifying the name of the Komodo Dragon to his confused friend. “But doesn’t Akuma translate to demon from Japanese?” Shifu replied with another question. “It does my friend, in fact, Akuma originated from the island of Japan and was trained in several types of Japanese martial arts. However, he is a master of neither of these disciplines, as he killed both of his teachers before they could fully complete his training.” Oogway replied. “But the scrolls in the Palace had no information on him at all. How do you know all these details?” Shifu asked still confused as to how his master knew these things. “I have my ways Shifu, however it seems that the valley is in grave danger now.” Oogway responded trying to warn his Red Panda friend. “From Akuma?” Shifu asked. “Partially, but also from Po himself.”

 

“Wait, what? What do you mean ‘the valley is in danger from Po’ Master?” Shifu asked, not comprehending what his former Master was telling him. “Well, you see Shifu...Akuma is neither the strongest nor the quickest fighter, however he makes up for these weaknesses with his ability to possess other living things. He has discovered a way to control the minds of his opponents and use them to carry out his agenda.” Oogway explained. “Oh no...” Shifu said to himself as he realized what the Tortoise was implying. “No Master, he can’t have possessed Po, please tell me it is not so...” Shifu said, fearing the Tortoise’s response. “I’m afraid so Shifu, The Panda endured much pain, both physically and emotionally, and now he is unfortunately a minion for the very person who has caused him so much pain.” The Tortoise looked depressed as he explained the sad truth of the situation. “No...This can’t be true...” Shifu nearly fell to the ground, as he couldn’t believe what his former Master was saying. “You must stay strong Shifu, for the valley needs you and the Furious Five.” Oogway said trying to prop up his former student. “But we cannot fight him...We just can’t...” Shifu argued while looking to be in a state of dread. “I understand that you are concerned about having to fight the Panda, however you must realize that no matter how dark someone may be, they always have light within them. For light cannot exist without dark, and vice versa.” Master Oogway said trying to reassure his former student. “It’s not just that Master...He has become extremely powerful...I don’t even think that the Five and I could stop him at his peak strength...”

 

“ **Not alone you can’t.”**

 

Said a new voice which interrupted the two Masters. Shifu turned around to see the origin of the voice and when he saw who it was, well, saying he was stunned would be an understatement. “Tai Lung!? How can this be? You were destroyed!” Shifu exclaimed in shock from seeing his adopted who he had thought to have been destroyed during his fight with the Dragon Warrior. “Surprised?” Tai Lung said with a sly smirk on his face. “But how can this be? The Dragon Warrior defeated you!” Shifu argued trying to deny reality. “Ah Shifu, you must know that the Wuxi finger hold is not a lethal technique.” Oogway replied to the bewildered Red Panda. Shifu just sighed and said “I guess that would explain how the Panda got here and back unharmed...” Oogway just smiled at his former and nodded. “Look, I know I’m the last person you want to see right now Shifu, however I would like to fix the broken bridge between us...I would like to apologize...I was ambitious and selfish, I let myself become consumed by greed...” Shifu just starred at the Snow Leopard in disbelief ‘did he just apologize? I didn’t even know that was possible...And he wants to fix the bridge between us?’ He thought. “Tai Lung, you must realize, I wanted nothing more than to see you again. A day didn’t go by when I didn’t feel regret and loss, I meant it when I said I was always proud of you **‘Son’**. And though I don’t believe that what the Panda did was wrong, I still felt absolutely terrible about the whole thing.”

 

Tai Lung listened to his former Master and was emotionally moved by what the Red Panda said, he had always thought that Shifu was lying when he had told him he was always proud of him. However he now saw how naive he was at the time, he had been so determined to claim ‘the power of the Dragon Scroll’ that he hadn’t realized that his lust for power had clouded his judgment. “Shifu I know that I have been a naive fool in the past, but I’d like to make amends for my mistakes by helping you now.” Tai Lung said. Shifu simply said “I understand Son, I would also like to make amends for my mistakes. I am hardly innocent in this and I believe it is time to put our differences behind us and work for the greater good.” Shifu responded now smiling. Tai Lung walked up to his adoptive Father and knelt down so he was at eye level with the Red Panda, then he hugged his adoptive Father and said “I’m glad you see it that way **‘Father’**.” Shifu just hugged his Son back and said “of course Son.”

 

“I’m glad to see the bridge between Father and Son has been repaired.” Oogway said with a slight chuckle. “Master Oogway, I can’t thank you enough for helping me to discover myself once again.” Tai Lung respectfully said after he let Shifu down. “It is my pleasure to help those in need Master Tai Lung.” Oogway replied kindly. “I do believe we will have more time to chat, however right now the world needs us, so Tai Lung, will you come back to the mortal realm to help us defend the valley?” Shifu said. “Absolutely Master Shifu, that Panda still owes me a rematch so I’m not about to let him forget!” Tai Lung replied getting eager for another fight. Shifu just sighed and shook his head “no matter what, you will always be as competitive as when I first took you in...” Tai Lung laughed and replied “maybe so, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Panda still owes me a rematch.”

 

Tai Lung stepped next to his father and asked “so how do we return to the mortal realm?” Shifu knew how to enter the spirit realm, however he had never asked the Panda exactly how to leave the spirit realm. “Oh...This is embarrassing...I don’t believe the Panda told me how to leave the spirit realm...”

 

**Meanwhile in a Bamboo Forrest not far from the Valley of Peace**

 

The air in the Bamboo forest was quite, the only sounds that could be heard were the rustling leaves on the Bamboo stalks moving in the wind. However this changed quickly, for a certain possessed individual was rampaging through the woods destroying everything in his way. For the last day, Po had been on his way towards the Valley of Peace, not that he knew what he was doing as he was still under the control of Akuma’s mind. Right now, the Panda was running on all fours and was destroying any obstacles in his way, Bamboo stalks and trunks of larger Bamboo trees fell to the ground hard as the Panda powered right through every obstacle. Akuma and his army of mercenaries followed closely behind trying very hard to keep up with the Panda’s outstanding speed and endurance. Akuma simply smiled as he thought ‘with the Dragon Warrior at my command, all of China will finally be cleansed!’

 

**Also meanwhile at the bottom of the 1000 steps to the Jade Palace**

 

“It’s too bad that I didn’t get to work in the shop with Mr Ping today...” said Hao Liang disappointingly as he and his Mother walked up to the 1000 steps. “I’m sorry Hao, but the safety of the Valley always comes first, I don’t want to take any chances.” Tigress replied to her Cub as they began to walk up the stairs. They had just finished informing all of the village residents that a threat was incoming, Tigress thought it wise to evacuate the village as to not take any chances. It took around four hours to evacuate the entire village, however now all the residents were safely far from the valley away from danger. As the two walked up the stairs Hao spoke “Hey Mamma, guess what?” “What’s up Hao?” She asked. “Well, I told Mr Ping about the dream that I had last night and before I even told him what happened in the dream he told me that I had just had something called ‘the noodle dream’, do you know what he means by that?” Hao asked his mother. Tigress chuckled at this, Po would often tell her and the other members of the Five many stories about his father, and one of these stories was about something that Mr Ping had called ‘the noodle dream’. “I don’t know Hao, but I’m sure it’s a good thing.” She answered as they continued to scale the steps.

 

When the two had reached the top of the stairs nearly an hour had past. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to walk up those stairs without getting tired...” Hao joked as he and his Mother entered through the Palace Gates towards the Tournament Arena. “You’ll get used to it, after all, even Po managed to conquer his weakness to stairs.” Tigress almost joked to her Cub as the two were on their way back to the Palace. The two kept walking until they reached the center of the Arena and heard a very loud sound overhead.

 

“ **KABOOM!”**

 

Thunder sounds went off as storm clouds rapidly filled the sky and very quickly, the entire sky was a mixture of dark gray and black, winds began to get stronger and dust and leaves blew all around. It was almost as if the rapidly changing weather was a foreshadowing of something about to happen. Hao was scared by this and so he hugged Tigress’ leg for comfort. Tigress couldn’t understand the reasoning behind the quickly changing weather conditions, though she did not have a good feeling about it and saw it as a sign. “Hao, I need you to return to the Palace and get the rest of the Furious Five, tell them to come here as quickly as they can.” Tigress ordered her son affirmatively as she looked in the sky observing the changing weather. “But Mamma, what about you?” Hao asked his Mother feeling very uneasy. “Don’t worry about me Hao, just go to the Palace and get the others as quickly as you can.” “But Mom-” “Just Go! I’ll be fine!” Tigress almost snapped at her son, but Hao obeyed his mother and ran as fast as he could towards the Palace Training Hall to get the rest of the Furious Five.

 

Tigress just stood in the center of the circle in the middle of the Tournament Arena. While the weather around her raged, she stood firm and watched the Palace entrance gates. Just then she started to hear sounds coming from beyond the gates, someone was coming up the stairs. The sounds kept amplifying as whoever it was who was coming up the stairs was getting closer. But then they stopped, almost as if whoever was coming up had just halted abruptly. But before anything else happened, Tigress began to feel raindrops fall. However Tigress then witnessed a figure jump very high into the air right over top of the Palace Gates and then land hard on the ground cracking the floor underneath from the sheer power of the impact. But when Tigress noticed who it was who had just landed ahead of her, she looked like she had just seen a ghost.

 

“Po!?”

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 16

 

Unfriendly Fire

 

“Po!?”

 

Tigress said in absolute shock after seeing the Giant Panda land ahead of her. She couldn’t believe it, after nearly two weeks of the Panda’s absence, he was standing right in front of her. However it was evident from just looking at him that something was wrong, he didn’t wear his green tunic which he had before he had been captured, and he also had white bandages wrapped around the right side of his chest which were slightly stained in blood. He also would not open his eyes, and had a very stern and serious look on his face and his white fur was quite dirty. ‘Something’s wrong...He isn’t acting normal, I’d better stay on guard...’ Tigress thought as she became more aware of her surroundings. She began to cautiously walk closer towards the Panda, using her senses to scan the area for anything that could be wrong. However, the Panda did not move from his spot and only kept his head looking in the direction of the female Tiger, but not opening his eyes. Tigress was now extremely worried, the Panda wasn’t reacting to her moving closer, he was only standing firm in his spot with his eyes closed and his head following her as she moved closer.

 

When Tigress got within 10 feet from the Panda, she called to him again “Po?” However, this time when she called to him, the Panda reacted.

 

“ARRGGHH!”

 

“GET-IT OUT-OF MY-HEAD!”

 

The Panda yelled in agony as he began to rage and began to hit and scratch the back of his head violently. As the Panda raged and jerked violently, Tigress watched in horror, he seemed to be in incredible pain somehow, she took a step back as he was now becoming very dangerous and seemed to be attacking something from within himself. But the Panda just kept trying to hit the back of his head, for some reason as he turned and moved violently. He then fell to the ground on his Paws and knees but clutched the back of his head while he breathed heavily. Tigress couldn’t bear to watch, so she ran up the Panda, got down and desperately asked “Po!? Are you alright!?”

 

“GET...AWAY!”

 

The Panda struggled to say as his tone sounded like he was fighting something internally. He still knelt on the ground using one of his paws for support, the other paw was clutching the back of his head.

 

“I do believe the Dragon Warrior is quite ‘alright’.”

 

Said another voice from closely behind the Panda.

 

“ARRGGHHH!”

 

Po yelled in pain once again as he rose from the ground and began to jerk violently once again. Tigress looked up at the origin of the voice and then jumped back from her spot. “Akuma! You evil bastard! What have you done with him!?” Tigress angrily snapped noticing who it was as she got into a fighting stance. Akuma laughed mockingly as he said “oh I’m sorry my dear, I apologize if I may have broken my promise to not harm the Panda. But he proved to be quite difficult to convince, so I gave him a little shall we say ‘persuasion’.” Akuma taunted the female Tiger. Tigress angrily growled at this and got ready to attack the Komodo Dragon. “I swear I will kill you!” Tigress angrily yelled at the reptilian. Akuma just chuckled as he said “we’ll see about that ‘little kitten’...”

 

Jut then, the rest of the Furious arrived “Tigress! We came as quickly as we could!” Viper exclaimed as they gathered beside the Tiger Master. Tigress however did not acknowledge the four and just starred at the Panda who was still panicking and raging. The other four gasped in horror as they all noticed what was happening in front of them. The Panda was now on the ground again and he began to punch the ground very hard out of pain and suffering. “Now Dragon Warrior, how about you show these so called ‘Masters’ what it means to be truly powerful! Remember when each one of them wronged you in the past? Now is your time for revenge!” Akuma ordered the Panda in a loud and assertive voice.

 

“I...WONT...I...”

 

The Panda struggled as he began to scratch his head again in pain.

 

“Po! Snap out of it! Hes just trying to use you!” Tigress yelled towards the Panda to try to get his attention. She was almost on the verge of tears seeing the Panda suffer this badly, he didn’t appear to have any injuries to his head, however she presumed that whatever was inflicting pain upon Po had to do with Akuma.

 

“You will Dargon Warrior! And once you take down these ‘self righteous cons’ then we will bring order to all of China!” Akuma ordered once again also insulting the Masters.

 

“I...WON-ARRRGGGHHHH”

 

The Panda yelled before he began to feel excruciating pain coming from his neck and the back of his head. The Panda then rose from the ground again and stood straight, he then unsheathed his large claws and opened his eyes. To everyone’s horror, when they watched the Panda open his eyes, they saw what looked to be some sort of dark red aura emitting from the Panda’s eyes. The Panda then got into a fighting stance and began to snarl violently, he also exposed his teeth and fangs. The Five had been trained to resist fear, however this sight made each one of them crawl in their skin. Then Tigress tried to communicate with the Panda “Po?” She said in a nervous tone fearing how the Panda might respond.

 

Something clicked inside the Panda’s head and the red aura emitting from his eyes disappeared momentarily. His real eyes were then revealed, Tigress’ eyes widened at this and she called to the Panda again “Po?” Po had a sad but confused looking expression on his face as he starred right into the female Tiger’s eyes. Hearing no response from the Panda, Tigress called again “Po?” However, this time the Panda seemed to ignore the female Tiger, and the dark red aura in his eyes reignited. The Panda then charged at the Five at tremendous speed and let out a loud roar.

 

The Five reacted quickly and all jumped back in different directions to avoid the powerful Bear. “Woah big guy! Were on your side! Remember!?” Mantis tried to snap his friend out of his trance but instantly regretted this as the Panda then came charging at him with the intent of squishing the insect. Po was almost in a type of berserker rage as he charged at the Insect at incredible force and launched his paw at the ground where the Praying Mantis. Though the Insect dodged the strike with his speed, the Panda struck the ground so hard it created a powerful shock wave which sent the Insect flying in the pulse of the wave. “Po! Snap out of it! We’re your friends!” Viper called to the Panda as she tried to get behind him. However it was no use, as Po turned around to face the female snake he looked even more dangerous than before and started walking over to the snake in an intimidating way. Then Monkey sneaked up on the Panda from behind while he was distracted with Viper and jumped on top of Po’s head. “Po! Buddy! You have to resist it!” The Simian said desperately to try to break the Panda’s trance. Po however did not stop, instead he reached behind him and grabbed Monkey by his arms and flung him off onto the ground hard and cracking the ground. This nearly knocked the wind out of Monkey, but before he could have any time to breathe, Po stepped up to the incapacitated primate and launched his arm at Monkey throwing a powerful punch. However, just before the Punch hit, Po’s arm was redirected and it hit the ground next to Monkey, Viper had taken the opportunity and had coiled herself around Po’s arm which restricted his movement in his left arm. “Po! Brother! Please listen to us!” Viper said as she wrapped her body around Po’s shoulder and then used the Panda’s arm to punch himself in the face, however the Panda reacted to this and before he struck himself he used an immense amount of strength to resist hitting himself. Viper then attempted to wrap herself around Po’s other arm, however Po grabbed her off of his shoulder and held her tight by the neck almost suffocating the snake. But before Viper passed out, Po looked up and saw a bladed straw hat heading towards him fast, so he dropped Viper and dodged the blade which ricocheted off the ground and a wall and returned to Crane who caught the blade while flying in the air directly above the Panda. Po just growled as he starred down crane from on the ground, he then took some of the bricks that had been cracked and broken and threw them at the bird. Just before the rocks had been thrown, Crane was about to use his signature attack “Wings Of Justi-Woah!” He then maneuvered to avoid the stones that were thrown his way, however, he didn’t realize that the rocks were just a distraction. And in the blink of an eye, the Panda used a massive amount of strength and jumped nearly 40 feet into the air and caught Crane’s leg. This not only weighed the bird down a lot, but it also put a great strain on his wings as they now had to carry nearly 400 lbs of muscle. Crane struggled and began flapping his wings even more to stay in the air. Po while holding onto Crane’s skinny leg was attempting to punch the bird with his other hand and nearly hit Crane twice. After a couple of seconds of a massive struggle by the bird, Crane’s wings gave into muscle fatigue and the two fell from the sky.

 

“Tigress! Catch them!” Viper shouted as the two fell from the sky, Tigress ran on all fours to catch the two who were falling very quickly now. She then jumped up and held her arms open to catch the massive Panda who still held onto the bird by the leg and she managed to intercept their fall. However, both Crane and Po still hit the ground hard. Crane passed out from the fall, however Po was even more enraged and he punched the ground in anger and got up. The dark red aura eminating from his eyes was still present and his claws were still unsheathed as he got into an offensive stance. “Po! Please listen to me! You have to fight it! You don’t do this! You’re a good person!” Tigress said emotionally who had also recovered from the fall. Tears now came from her eyes as she looked at her Panda, she knew he was under some sort of influence, however it still broke her heart to see him in this condition. Po seemed to stop his berserker rage for a second upon hearing the Tiger’s voice, the red aura in his eyes almost vanished and he seemed to have calmed down.

 

“Ti-Tigress?”

 

The Panda said as he starred at the female Tiger in confusion. This amazed Tigress and she quickly replied “Po!?”

 

But her happiness was short lived as the Panda began to feel great pain once again from the back of his head, and he began to rage and go berserk again. The red aura in his eyes was present again and he charged at Tigress on all fours roaring loudly and scraping the ground as he used his claws to go even faster. Tigress got ready in her defensive stance, she hadn’t wanted it to come to this, however she had no other choice, she had to face the Panda before he seriously hurt someone or worse, killed someone. Po then reached the Tiger and launched powerful punch after punch, each jab had enough strength to break a bone or cause a serious injury, however Tigress used her excellent reflexes to dodge and block the powerful jabs and retreat back. And though she wasn’t being hit by any of the punches, she wasn’t able to generate any offense as the Panda kept up the onslaught of strikes and then began to hit even harder than before. Within a couple of seconds of continuous punches, every punch that Tigress blocked began to actually hurt, Tigress had trained for years to feel no pain however the Panda was punching so hard that even that wasn’t enough to withstand his immense power.

 

Viper and Monkey who had both gotten back up and caught their breath rushed over to assist the female Tiger who was now struggling to withstand the power of the raging Giant Panda. They arrived just in time and distracted Po from behind, with Viper wrapping her body around Po’s left foot to restrict his movement while Monkey began to distract the Panda by blinding him using his hands to cover the Bear’s eyes and turning his head and shoulders around. Po however had much experience fighting while blinded and he simply kept on barraging the Tiger Master using his senses to determine where she was. He was hardly even slowed down by the two masters as he just kept up his onslaught on Tigress as she began to buckle under the power of the Panda’s hits. But just before Tigress’ defense was broken, something hit Po hard from behind and the Panda’s offensive rush was stopped. Monkey and Viper were still distracting the Panda though each one of them jumped off of him and developed a new plan of attack. Regrouping together, Tigress, Viper and Monkey all charged Po from different directions, figuring that it would catch the Panda off guard being attacked on three fronts. However their plan did not have the desired effect, because when the three got close to Po, he stomped on the ground so hard that it nearly caused a shock wave and sent dust and debris from the rocks flying everywhere making a large dust cloud and concealing the Panda from view. With each of the masters having lost the ability to see in the large cloud of dust, they all began to use their other senses to detect where the Panda was, but it was no use as they couldn’t smell or hear anything else as the dust cloud had also made it difficult to use those senses, now they had only their instinct. “Damn! Where’d he go!?” Monkey shouted almost angrily as the dust was annoying him. But hearing no response from his teammates, he called out again “guys? Where is everyo-” But before the Simian could finish, his voice faded and a ‘Woosh!’ sound followed, almost like something had moved very swiftly and quietly. “Monkey!? What happened!?” Viper called to her friend not knowing what had happened to him. However, just a split second after she called to the Primate another ‘Woosh!’ sound was heard, and all the sudden Viper was not heard anymore.

 

Tigress knew that the others had been taken by the Panda, so she maintained a defensive stance and decided to stay silent until the dust cleared so she would stand a better chance against the Panda. So she patiently waited for several minutes while still staying on guard for the dust to clear, and after about two minutes the dust did clear, however there was no sign of Po. But when Tigress looked carefully, she saw her friends lying on the floor of the arena unconscious, but before she could go over to help her friends, she heard something make a stepping sound behind her. Tigress turned around quickly and caught a glimpse of the Panda, he was getting ready to knock her down, he sent his arms down towards her faster than she could react. But just before they made contact, Po was hit from behind by something again, this time whatever it was hit him in the left rotator cuff and it hurt quite a bit. Po roared from this, as whatever it was, kept hitting him in different spots on his back, he tried to swat whatever it was off and shook his back muscles to try to shake off whatever it was. However the continuous attacks kept up, and Po got so frustrated that he jumped up and landed on his back hard. At this, a loud cry of pain was heard as when Po’s back hit the ground, he almost crushed the praying Mantis who had been attacking his back. Po then got up off of the insect and the injured Insect said in sarcasm “Sometimes-I wish-I-was a cockroach-instead...” (Cause Cockroaches are very hard to crush)

 

Po then looked down at the insect and growled angrily, he then raised his right foot, as to squash the Insect once and for all. He was just about to send his foot down and crush the insect but just as he was about to finish Mantis off, he heard an emotional female voice cry out “STOP!”

 

Tigress was now very emotional as she saw the Panda about to crush the insect, tears now fell from her eyes as she couldn’t believe what the once peaceful and easygoing Panda was about to do. “Stop Po! You don’t kill! Please...Please just stop!” She said emotionally. But then she heard another voice call to her from behind her “Mamma!” Hao Liang had returned and was now running towards Tigress. “HAO! STAY BACK!” Tigress yelled at her son as she didn’t want him to get involved in the dangerous fight. Hao just stopped where he was and looked ahead of his Mother, and when he noticed Po he shouted “PO!?”

 

The Panda seemed to react to the White Tiger Cub’s voice, however not in a way that anyone would have expected. The Panda seemed to blink several times and then became less hostile and began to calm down. Hao then noticed the condition that Po was in and he saw the red aura emitting from the Panda’s eyes and all the bandages, the sight scared him, however the Cub decided to be brave and said “Po!? What happened to you?” Hao said this and began to approach the Panda. “Hao! Don’t! Stay back!” Said Tigress as she pulled the Cub back.

 

But then, the Panda spoke “w-where am I? T-Tigress? Hao?” The Panda had once again lost the red aura in his eyes and returned to a calmer state, he was now staring at the two felines in confusion. But upon hearing Po’s voice, Hao responded “Po! you’re alright!” Hao then tried to loosen himself from his Mother’s grasp. But Tigress did not let go of him, she just held him close and looked at the Panda carefully, she did notice that the Panda had stopped his chaotic rage. She called to him again “Po?”

 

However before Po could respond, another voice interrupted “I believe that the Dragon Warrior has some important business to attend to Master Tigress! So I’m afraid that your time is up now!” Akuma angrily said as he unsheathed one of his Kunai throwing knives and aimed to launch it at the female Tiger. Akuma then threw the blade and then everything seemed to slow down, Tigress wanted to dodge the blade however, the blade was headed straight for the Cub, so upon instinct she shielded the Cub from the knife. She then prepared to be hit by the thrown knife and then...

 

“ **Splat!”**

 

Tigress heard the knife embed into something, but she didn’t feel any pain in her back, and she didn’t feel any blood dripping down her back. But a split second after she heard this noise, she heard something cough very hard and then it began making sounds like it was choking. When she turned around, Tigress noticed Po was standing right in front of both her and Hao almost shielding them, but then Po’s legs seemed to get weak and the Panda fell to the ground on his side. But what terrified Tigress the most was when the Panda fell over, she noticed that the throwing knife that had been thrown at her was lodged inside the left side of Po’s chest. (Where the heart and lungs are in mammals)

 

“ **NOOOOO!!!!!”**

 

Tigress screamed in horror as she saw the blade embedded into the Panda Bear’s chest, she immediately got up and rushed to the Panda’s side. He was now coughing very hard and soon he began to cough up blood as his lungs began to fill up with fluid since they had been punctured by the knife. Tigress began to panic and got to the Panda’s side within a second. “PO!? SAY SOMETHING!” She said lifting the Panda’s neck, trying desperately to get him to give her a sign. The Panda then began to cough uncontrollably and started breathing much faster as his body was failing quickly. “PO! PLEASE! YOU’LL BE ALRIGHT, JUST STAY WITH ME!” Tigress said as tears streamed from her eyes and she looked down at the seriously wounded Panda.

 

Hao who had been watching everything happen, just stood where he was in shock, he had never seen anything like this before, and for some reason his body just wouldn’t move in bewilderment of the situation.

 

Akuma, although his Kunai had hit a target was not satisfied, rather the opposite, he raged and yelled “NOOOOOO!!!!! WHY!!!!! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?!?” To anyone who didn’t know the Lizard’s intentions, they would be confused, I mean, shouldn’t Akuma be happy that he killed the Dragon Warrior? They were opponents. But Akuma’s true intentions were to use the Dragon Warrior to help him conquer the entire country of China, but now with the Dragon Warrior having sacrificed himself to save Tigress, that plan would be much more difficult to accomplish.

 

Though Po wasn’t dead yet, he was dying, and quickly. He was still coughing and choking on blood and if he was breathing, it wasn’t a normal breathing rate. Tigress still held him by the back of his neck and cried as she said in a very sad tone “Please Po...Don’t leave me again...” As her teardrops dropped on the Panda’s chest, the Panda opened his eyes to where he was nearly squinting and said with all the strength he had left “You-‘Cough!’-‘Cough!’-Have beautiful-‘Cough!’-Eyes...” The Panda said while staring right into Tigress’ tear filled amber eyes and raising his hand to wipe off the tears from her eyes, however when his hand nearly reached her eyes, he fainted and his arms and head fell. “No...No...NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” Tigress screamed in grief as she watched the Panda faint out of blood loss and his lungs filling up with blood.

 

Now acting upon instinct, Tigress joined her paws by opposite ends and made the hand movements in preparation to use her Chi to save the dying Panda. And within a second, bright golden Chi energy radiated from Tigress’ right hand as she aimed her Chi at the wound in the Panda’s chest, after fixing the wound in Po’s chest, the throwing knife came right out as the tissues and bones in Po’s chest had regenerated. Then Tigress moved her hand and focused her Chi on the neurotoxin that had still been present in Po’s brain, and magically, the power of the Chi energy simply dissolved the toxin and it disappeared from the Panda’s head. Then Tigress broke out of her instintual trance and cried desperately “please! Wake up!”

 

For several seconds, nothing happened and eventually Tigress collapsed on to Po’s as she had been exhausted by how much Chi she had used to try to heal the Panda. But when her forehead touched the Panda’s, she felt Po’s head move as well and in a split second his lips touched hers and he wrapped his arms around her body, bringing her right on top of him. She then did the same thing and wrapped her arms around him and embraced him in a kiss that lasted nearly a full minute with neither one of them willing to stop soon. However they broke apart nearly a minute and a half later for air, but when they did, each looked into the other’s eyes and Po said “I love you...” Tigress smiled joyfully as she replied “I know.” (Another Star Wars cliché)

 

But their moment was cut short as the Komodo Dragon who had been watching the entire scene then angrily yelled “I hope you two are happy! Because it will be the last time you ever feel happiness! Or for that matter, feel anything!” Akuma then signaled with his left hand, and within seconds, what seemed like an army of thugs and mercenaries of which being Gorillas, Boars, Rhinos and Crocodiles filled into the tournament arena, surrounding the unconscious bodies of the other Furious Five as well as Hao, Po and Tigress. Akuma then continued “Now this is personal! Prepare to be destroyed ‘Masters’!” The Komodo Dragon said in an angry tone.

 

Po’s strength had been nearly depleted from both his fight with the five but also from having been injured and healed quickly. But he used what strength he had left and stood up, getting in front of Tigress and Hao, protecting the two as he said “I won’t let that happen Akuma.”

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 17

 

Backup

 

“I wont let that happen Akuma.” Po said as he stood firm in front of his friends and mate, in an attempt to protect them from harm. “Po, you’re in no condition to fight...” Tigress said as she tried to get up from the ground. Hao who had been watching the whole spectacle ran up to Po and hugged the Panda’s leg “are they going to kill us Po?” The White Tiger Cub asked in fear. Po didn’t want to admit it, but Tigress was right, he was in no condition to fight the horde of enemies in front of him. “Not while I can do something to stop it Hao...” Po responded to the Cub while kneeling down to look Hao in the eyes. He then looked around him and saw the incapacitated other masters lying on the floor “what have I done...” Po said to himself as he wondered how much damage he had done while he had been possessed by the Komodo Dragon. He then looked back at the Komodo Dragon and began to growl angrily once again. But Akuma stood where he was looking at the weakened Dragon Warrior as he said “Surrender and I promise that you will die quickly.” Po just thought to himself ‘I can’t take them all on, I’m to weak, the only thing I can do is delay them the best I can.’

 

So Po got into his defensive stance and said “Hao, stay with Tigress, this is my fight.” Hao nodded and he ran back over to Tigress who struggled to get to her paws and knees as she was very exhausted. Po now faced the Komodo Dragon and his army. Upon starring down the Lizard, Po noticed something, a group of Peach Petals now flowed in the wind in a rhythmic pattern. Watching the Peach petals flow into the sky far away, he also noticed that the sky had cleared and the weather was now quite calm. But then he turned his attention back to the Komodo Dragon and he said “okay Akuma, bring it on.” Akuma smiled evilly and said “your funeral Dragon Warrior.”

 

**Meanwhile in a separate dimension**

 

“What do you mean ‘The Panda didn’t tell you how to leave the spirit realm’?” Tai Lung said frustratingly as he stood beside the Red Panda. “I mean he never told me how to exit this dimension. All I remember him telling me was that I should bring a staff with me...” Shifu replied as he pondered ideas on how to leave the spirit realm. “Father! We’re wasting time! What if they’re in trouble!” Tai Lung impatiently said. “Quiet Son, let me think...” Shifu replied trying to concentrate. “If you’re done thinking, I believe the Panda used his staff to draw a Yin & Yang in the golden river to leave the Spirit Realm.” The Snow Leopard responded as he showed his father the golden river of Chi, and showed him the motion that the Panda had made to leave the spirit realm. “Oh, of course...Well why didn’t you say so from the start?” Shifu replied trying to deflect the blame as he approached the golden river. Tai Lung rolled his eyes from his Father’s stubborn attitude, and he got down and put his paw on Shifu’s shoulder as the Red Panda draw the symbol into the golden river. Just before the two passed to the other dimension, Tai Lung looked back at Master who was smiling while watching the whole thing and said “Thank you for everything Master Oogway.” And just before the two left, Oogway nodded and responded “you’re welcome, Master Tai Lung...”

 

The two then vanished into the golden lake as Master Oogway watched and thought to himself ‘I’m glad those two finally bonded once again...’ He then went back to his branch on the peach tree in the center of his island and began to meditate peacefully again.

 

**Back in the mortal realm**

 

Po stood firm holding his ground and getting ready to face the army of mercenaries in front of him. “Po, do you have any sense at all? You’re in no condition to fight these guys...” Tigress tried to argue with the Panda who looked ready to challenge the army of about 100 armed animals. “I have to Tigress, I won’t let you all die if I can to something to prevent it.” Po replied factually as he stepped forward closer to the horde. But what most of them didn’t realize was that Po was stalling to recover some stamina and strength. However Akuma got impatient and ordered his men “I’ve heard enough, kill him, kill them all! And then China will be ours!”

 

The Mercenaries then charged Po in small groups as they unsheathed their weapons, but they didn’t realize that the Panda would put up quite a fight. As they approached him, he disarmed many of the thugs and knocked down nearly 10 of the attackers, however Po soon realized that he would quickly be overwhelmed and so he started to back up to give himself more room to fight them. But when he retreated even more, he realized that he had nearly run out of room, he and the mercenaries had nearly reached his weak and unconscious friends. The thugs would soon reach the others and when that would happen, everything would be lost, so Po fought with everything he had, taking on nearly 15 thugs and mercenaries at once and holding his own. But he quickly realized how fruitless this was, he was hopelessly outnumbered and he was rapidly tiring out. But just as he began to fatigue, he noticed a group of peach petals once again flowing through the air right above him, but this time there were a lot more of them and they began to gather in a circle about 10 feet above all the warriors. And then a bright golden light began to shine in the center of the circle, all the warriors stopped fighting and feasted their eyes on the spectacle. Then the petals began to swirl around and around in a cone shape, and then in the golden light at the center of the golden light, two figures appeared, one of which looked like a large feling while the other looked like a smaller rodent that held a wooden staff. Everyone in the area was now watching the event unfold and Po thought to himself ‘That isn’t who I think it is, is it?.’ And when the petals began to stay still, the two figures dropped to the floor right in front of Po and also in front of all the mercenaries. It was none other than Master Shifu accompanied by Tai Lung. Akuma and his thugs looked completely dumbfounded as they watched the entire thing unfold and now saw two new figures in the mix. But before Akuma could say anything, Po said to the two “It certainly took you two long enough...” Shifu then turned around and said “Yes, I apologize for our...delay. I heard what happened to you, are you okay?” Po nodded and replied “I am, thanks to Tigress...” He said as he pointed over to the female Tiger who was being helped up by Hao and struggled to get to her feet. Shifu then gasped as he saw all the other masters who were knocked down and couldn’t get up. Tai Lung then spoke up “Shifu, why don’t you attend to the others while the Dragon Warrior and I clean up the trash?” As the Leopard said this, a grin began to form on his face. The Leopard then looked at Po and said “can you fight?” Po nodded and they both looked at Shifu who then answered “That’s a good idea, but are you sure you can take them all on?” He asked his son and the Panda. Both of the warriors nodded and directed their attention to the horde of enemies who all of a sudden looked a bit more nervous.

 

Over next to Tigress, her son quickly realized who it was that was talking to Po “It’s Shifu! And...and Tai Lung?” He had never seen the Leopard in person as he had only seen Tai Lung’s action figure before, and he expected him to look a little more intimidating, however the Leopard seemed to be quite passive and not at all what he expected. But nonetheless, he was glad that Shifu and Tai Lung had come to help.

 

Po and Tai Lung then got into their fighting stances and prepared to fight the near 100 enemies in front of them. Shifu all the while, went over to tend to the unconscious and weakened masters. Tai Lung then said to himself with a smile “this is going to be fun...” And as he cracked his knuckles and his neck, he could hear the mercenaries backing up from fear, Po on the other hand was waiting patiently, not using any excess stamina until when he would really need it. Tai Lung then spoke again once he was ready, “Ill take the right?” Po just nodded at this and replied “and I’ll take the left.” They then prepared themselves getting closer to the horde of enemies. “I admire your confidence my Leopard friend, however you cannot hope to survive against my entire army...” Akuma said as he was displeased by the Leopard’s confidence. Tai Lung just smiled at this and said “well, we shall see about that...”

 

The two warriors then nodded to each other and charged the horde of enemies, almost mowing through the armed thugs as if they were slicing butter. As Akuma watched his men getting beaten by the two warriors, he began to have second thoughts about his plans as he thought ‘how can those two just take down my men so easily!? I thought the Panda had been exhausted...’ Watching the two getting closer he then began to feel something he hadn’t felt in a long time, fear. After several minutes of continuous fighting, Po and Tai Lung had defeated nearly 50 of the 100 or so thugs, and were now getting very close to the anxious Komodo Dragon. But then as Po was fighting, he noticed that Akuma began to flee the scene and was headed through the gates towards the Hall of Heroes. As Po watched the Komodo Dragon getting away Tai Lung noticed this as the two were fighting back to back and he said “Go! I’ll take these guys!” Po looked back at the Leopard and asked “are you sure-” “Go!” The Leopard interrupted him. Po just nodded and ran up to the approaching horde of enemies and jumped right over them all with grace, landing just behind the last of the mercenaries. He then continued in hot pursuit of the Lizard, running on all fours to increase his speed. Po had never originally ran on all four legs, but observing figures like Tigress, Tai Lung and many others, he noticed how much faster it was. As he quickly followed the Lizard up to the Hall of Heroes he thought to himself ‘hurry Po, if Akuma gets away, he will just come back even stronger than before...’

 

Po arrived at the Hall of Heroes, however there was no sign of the Komodo Dragon anywhere. Po stayed on guard, this room had many possible places to hide, the jade pillars being some, along with the many ornamental and antique Kung Fu artifacts. He then got back on his hind legs and raised his arms to prepare for a possible ambush, he had trained to be ready for events such as these and so he kept his guard up, his eyes moving to different places around the room scanning where the Lizard could possibly be. But when he had nearly gotten to the Moon Pool at the end of the hallway, he heard an echoey voice call out “I must say Dragon Warrior, it was a noble act to save the Tiger, but also foolish...” Po then became angered as he said “and what you you know about being noble, ‘Demon’?” After Po said this he heard an evil laugh echo through the room and then Akuma spoke again “so you understand where I come from then?” Po then looked around to try to pinpoint the origin of the voice, but it was useless with how much the voice echoed through the room. So he responded “I know that you are a murderer, a tyrant and also a coward.” Po replied to Akuma insulting the Lizard. Akuma didn’t take offense from this, he knew exactly who he was and he embraced this about himself. “Tyrant? I like the sound of that...” He replied to the Panda as he unsheathed one of his Kunai knives that he still had. Po then readied himself even more as he was expecting Akuma to make a move due to the Lizard’s tone of voice. Akuma who had been attached to the ceiling just above the Panda waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, and he figured now that the Panda’s back was turned to his direction he would make a move. So he stealthily dropped to the ground making almost no noise. The Komodo Dragon then held his Kunai in his right hand and readied to throw it directly at the back of the Panda’s head. He then threw the knife right at it’s target, however in the blink of an eye the Panda reacted and moved his head out of the way and swiftly caught the knife with his left hand almost effortlessly. Akuma was shocked at the Panda’s extraordinarily fast reflexes, ‘how did he do that!? Not even Gui Jin or Wuan Li (Akuma’s late master’s in Japan) could pull that off!? Just who is he!?’ The Lizard angrily thought to himself.

 

“ **Clang! Clang!”**

 

A sound of metal was heard echoing through the hall of heroes as Po dropped the throwing knife to the ground. Po just turned around and faced the bewildered Komodo Dragon with a less than happy expression on his face, almost like he was not interested in fighting the reptilian. He then said “that may have worked where you come from, but it won’t work on me. Now give up Akuma...” Akuma then smiled evilly and changed the subject “so you put your trust in that overconfident Leopard? You really believe he’ll be able to protect your friends?” Akuma said this with an evil laugh at the end. Po wasn’t amused by this and he responded “although Tai Lung and I haven’t always agreed on everything in the past, I do trust him to protect the others, no, I ‘believe’ in him.” “So his name is Tai Lung? No matter, that overconfident Leopard will share the same fate as your friends, he will be six feet under...” The Komodo Dragon responded trying to get under the Panda’s skin. But Po did not react to this, instead he replied “No. Enough blood has been spilled on your account. No more...” Po then began to approach the Komodo Dragon who seemed to be quite timid at the moment. Akuma then responded “you’ll have to defeat me first ‘Dragon Warrior’.” Po didn’t reply, and instead he waited for the Lizard to make the first move. Akuma then lunged to attack Po and he began to swipe his claws at Po trying to cut the Panda’s flesh as his claws were quite lethal. But none of his strikes hit their target, Po was nimbly dodging every swipe and not making any attempt to fight back. So Akuma kept up the attack while also plotting a different strategy, he had one last knife and it was literally a trick up his sleeve. As he kept attacking the Panda, he quickly revealed the hidden knife from his sleeve, grabbed it and tried to stab Po in the chest with the knife, however he was unsuccessful as Po blocked the attack grabbing Akuma’s wrist and twisting it making a cracking sound and earning the Panda a groan of pain from the Lizard. “Yield! Or I will break the other arm too.” Po said as he grabbed Akuma’s other wrist and getting ready to twist on the arm. Akuma struggled through the pain as he still held the knife in his right hand but was unable to stab the Panda with it was he couldn’t move his wrist, but then he got another idea and he said “You forget Dragon Warrior...THAT I HAVE A TAIL!” Akuma yelled as he dropped the blade from his right hand and caught it with his tail and then stabbed the Panda in the lower left leg.

 

The Panda lost his grip on the Lizard as he yelped out in pain, clearly not expecting the move from the reptilian. Akuma laughed at this and got ready to attack the Panda while he was in pain but before he could, he was hit by a powerful kick right to his waist from the Panda’s right foot (not the injured one) and was sent flying into the wall. Po having been frustrated by the Lizard’s persistence pulled out the throwing knife out of his left leg and threw it at Akuma’s shoulder who had hit a wall after the Panda had kicked him. The knife barely grazed Akuma’s shoulder and neck and loged itself into Akuma’s red robe and pierced through the wall behind him, effectively attaching him to the wall. Po then limped over to the Komodo Dragon, clutching his knee and trying to stop the bleeding. Po then stood right in front of Akuma, he didn’t say anything to the reptilian, he just starred at the tyrant with an unamused expression. “Go ahead, finish me Dragon Warrior...” Akuma said in pity knowing that he had been defeated.

 

“No.”

 

The word ‘No’ echoed through the hall of heroes as the Panda now stood before his defeated enemy. Po then continued “I said ‘no more blood will be spilled today’, and I meant it when I said that.” Akuma just listened to the Panda speak, in a way he had wanted for the Panda to finish him off, he had been defeated and was now almost helpless, he had wanted to die to avoid living with the shame of losing to the Panda. So he replied “hundreds die each day Panda, you will never be able to stop that...” Po just looked away and said “maybe not, but not everyone must die in vain, such as Bao Ni or the countless innocents that you killed in raiding those villages...” Akuma then noticed that the Panda wasn’t paying attention to him and so he used his right hand which hadn’t been broken and pulled the knife out of the wall and his robe and attempted to take his own life. But before he could stab himself, the knife was stopped just before he plunged it into his heard.

 

“The living aren’t done with you yet...” (reference to Captain America Civil War) Po said as he held Akuma’s arm in place, not letting the Lizard get what he wanted and preventing the Komodo Dragon from committing suicide. Po then brought the Lizard’s arms behind his back and put on a pair of acupuncture cuffs that were on display in one of the cases in the hall of heroes. And then he escorted the Lizard out of the Palace and back out into the tournament arena.

 

Back at the Arena, Tai Lung had just defeated the last of the thugs and had worked up quite a sweat, however the poorly trained mercenaries had been no match for the highly trained Kung Fu Master. This hadn’t been the first time that Tai Lung had taken on a large number of opponents at once, when he had escaped the prison in the cold mountains, he had taken on an entire army of Rhino prison guards and defeated all of them. But as he now stood tall after having defeated the last of the thugs he looked over to the other Kung Fu Masters who had bee completely unharmed and he sighed in relief, it had been a long time since he had protected anyone but he wouldn’t lie, he had missed it. He saw that the other members of what Shifu called ‘the Furious Five’ were just getting up now and beyond them, he saw Master Tigree now getting up from the ground with Shifu helping her to her feet. And then he heard footsteps coming down from the Palace where Po had chased after that Komodo Dragon. It was Po, but he was escorting the Komodo Dragon who was now restrained in a pair of acupuncture handcuffs. “well done Dragon Warrior.” Tai Lung respectfully said to the Panda who had now come down the stairs standing near the others with the Komodo Dragon having been apprehended. “You didn’t do so bad yourself ‘Master Tai Lung’.” Po replied in a respectful but joking way. Master Shifu then walked over to the two and said “congratulations you two, thanks to you the valley, no, China is safe once again.” Tai Lung and Po both bowed to the elder Red Panda and Po replied “Thank you Shifu, however we still need to get Akuma and the rest of his thugs to prison...” Shifu just smiled at the Panda and replied “do not worry Po, I will take Akuma to the nearby village and have him sent to Chor Gohm prison, along with the rest of his followers. But right now, I believe you have someone to talk to...” Shifu said as he looked behind trying to lea Po’s eyes to where he was looking. When Po looked over, he saw Tigress who was struggling to stand along with the young White Tiger Cub beside her. Po then nodded and began to go towards them before he was stopped by Tai Lung who said “you know I am still going to want that rematch right?” Po just chuckled as he said “You’ll get it, I give you my word. Now if you’ll excuse me...”

 

Po then walked past the Leopard and almost ran toward the female Tiger, he held his arms open and embraced Tigress in a tight hug. Tigress then wrapped her arms around the Panda leaning her head on his shoulders as the Panda lifted her off the ground. Po couldn’t stop smiling right now, the whole ordeal he had been through was now over and he could once again live his life in peace. He then began to cry tears of joy as he still held Tigress in a warm and passionate hug, “I’m so glad you’re alright!” Po said in joy as he still cried out of happiness. Tigress then also began to tear for the same reason and she replied “I’m so glad you came back!”

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 18

 

Reunion

 

As Po held his soulmate up, he never wanted to let go, it had been nearly a month since they had seen each other and it felt like an eternity. And while Po held her up in the air Tigress was very calm, she had missed the Panda dearly for the last 3 weeks and now that he had returned once more to her she felt complete again. After nearly 3 minutes of a tight embrace, Po let Tigress down and said while looking into her eyes “A minute didn’t go by when I didn’t think about you...I missed you so much...” Tigress could do nothing but smile at how emotional the Panda was, she too was emotional but she loved seeing how happy Po was “me too Po.” She said as she once again wrapped her arms around her soulmate’s neck. Po just hugged Tigress back, but when he looked at her back he noticed something he hadn’t before “it looks nice on you...” He said looking at his golden cloak which he had given to his girlfriend right before he had been captured, she was wearing the cloak right now and as he saw it strapped to her neck he noticed how well it looked on her. “It still belongs to you Po.” She said as she unstrapped it off her neck and went to hand it back to the Panda. But Po put his hand on hers and stopped her saying “keep it, I know I told you I would get it back, but it looks better on you.” He said this as he took the cloak and once again strapped it to the Tiger’s neck. “Po, you don’t have to-wait, what happened to your leg!?” Tigress said as she noticed the puncture wound on Po’s lower left leg which was bleeding slightly. Po then looked down and also noticed what she was talking about, he had almost forgotten about his injury all together but he said “it’s not that bad Tigress, I’ll live.”

 

As he said this, the other members of the Furious Five began to regain conscious and got up. Mantis was the first to get up and he said as he rubbed his sore head “I really do wish I was a Cockroach instead...” Then Viper got up and she noticed Po and Tigress speaking to each other and she said “Tigress! Po! You’re alright!” Tigress and Po both turned their heads toward the Snake and they both said “Viper!” Tigress and Po ran over to their friends who were now waking up. Viper then replied “Po! How did you overcome Akuma’s control over you!?” Po looked to his side and said “well, I have Tigress to thank for that.” Tigress just smiled and nodded at the Panda and then saw Crane and Monkey getting up as well. “Ugh, what happened?” Said Monkey as he rubbed his head. “Monkey! Crane!” Po said as he rushed over to help them recover. “Po!? You’re back to normal again!?” Monkey said in a happy but also skeptical way not completely sure whether his friend had returned to normal or not. “Yeah! Thanks to Tigress I am. Oh! Crane!” Po responded noticing that Crane was getting back up from the ground as well. He rushed over to the avian and helped Crane get to his feet. “Po? What happened?” Crane asked. “I don’t know Crane, I have no memory of what happened when I was under Akuma’s control.” Po replied in a somewhat sad tone of voice. As the rest of the Five now regrouped, Po said to everyone “I’m sorry for everything guys, for leaving, for worrying everyone, for-” “Po, how can you blame yourself for any of this? Your sacrifice saved Hao and all the other children at the orphanage! And though we missed you a lot, we always held hope that you would return. You always do.” Tigress said as she now held Hao so the little Cub was now at eye level with the Panda. Po then looked over at the female Tiger and the White Tiger Cub and he smiled ans replied “I guess I do...”

 

“Tigress, have you told Po that you’re now Hao’s mother? Or that he’s now learning to be a chef? Or that-” Mantis blurted out before he was interrupted by Po who said in shock “wait what!?” Po’s jaw began to jaw began to drop and Tigress began to laugh. “Tigress! I didn’t mean to literally ‘adopt Hao’ when I told you to ‘take care of him’...” Po said as he was in shock. Hao also began to laugh at Po’s behavior and Tigress responded “well, let’s just say I wanted to adopt him.” She said this while rubbing Hao’s head who she still carried in her arms. “And did you say that Hao is now a Chef!?” Po said having been flustered by all of the information, he grasped his head in his hands in confusion. “Yeah! Well, one in training at least...Hey Po! Guess what! Your Dad’s are teaching me how to become a great Chef!” Hao replied to the dumbstruck Panda having become excited once again. Po’s jaw collapsed and he asked in a nervous tone “Oh no...Just how much have they told you about me?...” Hao laughed at this and responded “well, Mr Ping told me that you used to talk in your sleep about the Kung Fu a lot...” “AHHH!” Po yelled having been embarrassed as he had hoped that the rest of the Furious Five wouldn’t have found out about that. Hao and the rest of the Furious Five began to laugh at the Panda’s insecurity. So Hao kept going on “oh! And he also told me that you once believed that you came from an egg...” “NOOOO!!!” Po once again cried as he hadn’t want anyone to know how naive he was when he was younger. “Oh! And he also told me-” Hao continued on before he was interrupted by Po who said “Hao! Please! I think that’s quite enough...” Everyone laughed at this and Po hanged his head in shame having had some of his embarrassing secrets revealed.

 

But as everyone was laughing, Viper noticed another figure who was watching the spectacle from not too far away. “Wait...Tai Lung!?” The snake said in shock. All of the other members of the Furious Five excluding Tigress looked over to the Snow Leopard who was watching them. “Wait what!?” They almost all said in unison and got into their fighting stances facing the Snow Leopard. “Easy guys! Don’t worry, he’s on our side now...” Po tried to reason with the four Masters. “Po! He’s pure evil! Don’t you remember what he did to Shifu! To you! To the Valley-” The four almost said in sync but they were interrupted by Po again “I know, and I condemn those actions, but I also believe that he deserves a second chance. Everyone does...” Po said trying once again to reason with the unruly Masters. To his relief, the Masters all stood down and Viper said “I hope you know what you’re doing brother...” Po nodded to her and went over to talk to the Leopard. “I know we’ve had our qualms in the past Tai Lung, but will you join the us at the Jade Palace and protect the valley of peace again?” Po said reaching is hand out as if to shake the Leopard’s hand. Tai Lung listened to the Panda and then looked behind the Panda and saw Tigress who looked much more calm than the other’s as she nodded to him from behind the Panda. “It has been to long since I’ve actually done something useful with my life...Yes, I will help you to protect the valley.” Tai Lung said as he reached out and shook the Panda’s hand.

 

“This doesn’t feel right...” Said Mantis who was now perched on Monkey’s shoulder to see better. “Maybe so, but I trust Po’s judgment on this one.” Viper replied to the insect. “Viper!? You can’t be serious! That guy tried to kill us once and almost killed Po!” Mantis tried to argue with the snake’s reasoning. “It’s not our call to make Mantis, if Po truly believes that Tai Lung can or has changed for the better then we will stand with him, his judgment hasn’t always been the best among the wise Kung Fu Masters, but he always sees the good in people. And plus, Tai Lung did just fight off nearly 50 Bandits on his own, had he and Shifu not come when they did, we would all be dead.” Tigress explained to the skeptical insect. “But-” Mantis still tried to argue until Monkey interrupted “I’m with Po on this one too, I mean sure Tai Lung has been evil in the past, but that doesn’t make him evil now. What if everyone believed that people who make a bad mistake will always be evil, nobody would ever trust anyone.” As Monkey said this, they all noticed the Panda shaking hands with the Snow Leopard. “Wait, I’m confused, didn’t Tai Lung just help us to take out all those bad guys? So why does everyone not want to allow him to join us?” Hao asked having been confused by the Master’s argument having not knowing the Snow Leopard’s sketchy past. “Well Hao, that’s a long story for another time.” Tigress told the Cub who she still held in her arms.

 

“But you know I’m still going to want that rematch right?” Tai Lung said to Po as the two shook hands. Po just laughed and said “I would have it no other way.” The two the released their hands and went to join the others. When the two joined the others Po said Tai Lung, meet Hao Liang. Hao, meet Tai Lung.” Po introduced the Snow Leopard to the White Tiger Cub. Tai Lung, to the others surprise respectfully bowed to the young White Tiger Cub and said “greetings young one.” Hao couldn’t bow back as he was still in Tigress’ grasp but he still respectfully replied “hello Master Tai Lung.” Once the Masters were all acquainted, Po asked “I trust that you all evacuated the village during this whole ordeal?” Tigress nodded as she said “I did, I had a feeling that something would happen today so Hao and I helped them to evacuate earlier today.” Po smiled and said “Thank you Tigress, now since the whole ordeal is over we can let them know that the valley is safe again.” The others nodded at the Panda’s idea and they went to the neighbor village which the village residents had fled to.

 

**Hours Later in the Neighbor Village**

 

Po and the rest of the Furious Five had arrived at the village where the residents had fled, they were now letting the citizens know that the valley was safe from the tyrant’s invasion. Most of the citizens were thrilled to hear the news, not only because it meant they could once again return to their homes, but it also meant that the Dragon Warrior and the Furious Five had stopped another threat to the entire country. The Masters had split into smaller groups so they could inform more of the citizens in a shorter time, however they had left Tai Lung back in the village to aid Shifu with taking the Bandits to Chor Ghom. This was mostly because they all agreed that the citizens would likely be afraid of the Snow Leopard, after all, he was very well known in the Valley of Peace. Right now, Po, Tigress and Hao were letting some of the last of the citizens know that the valley was once again safe, however while they were on their way through the streets of the village, Po noticed a familiar looking cart. “Wait, I recognize that cart...Dad! Dad!” Po nearly shouted as he left the two felines and ran to the cart quickly. It was then that two simultaneous shouts came from the cart “Po!?” Tigress and Hao just watched as two people came out from behind of the cart and ran up to hug the Panda. “Po! It is you!” “Lotus! You’re back!” Po’s two fathers almost said in unison as they ran up to hug their son. “Dads! I missed you so much!” Po said as the three all hugged each other. “Son! We were worried sick about you!”

 

As Tigress watched the happy family reuniting, she just smiled and held Hao’s hand and said “Po’s fathers might be a bit weird sometimes, but their love for their son is unparalleled.” Hao just replied “they are so lucky to have Po for a son! He is really awesome!” Tigress looked down at her Cub and smiled while dreamily saying “indeed they are...” Tigress loved watching how sentimental Po and his fathers got when they were reunited, even though it wasn’t her, she still felt happiness for the family. “Wait Po! Why have you returned? Has the valley been saved again?” Mr Ping said as he let go of the Panda after a long hug. Po smiled at this and replied “yes Dad, the valley is safe now.” Li Shan then cheered as he enthusiastically said “wow! Way to Son you guys are really something, I can’t imagine what the valley would be without you!” But right after he said this Li Shan noticed something “wait Lotus, look at your left leg! Are you alright!?” Po had almost forgotten about the injury to his left leg once again but he responded “it’s not serious Dad, I’ll live.” “No it’s not! Dad (Li Shan and Mr Ping call each other ‘Dad’) and I will help to heal your leg with our Chi!” Li Shan impulsively replied looking at Mr Ping who had the same idea. “Are you sure that’s a great idea Dads?” Po replied skeptically as he hadn’t seen his fathers perform the Chi technique in months. “Nonsense Po, we’re your Dads.” Mr Ping said as he and Li Shan both ran through the movements in the healing technique. Then, both the fathers said in sync “double Dad magical healing powers!” (I made them say this cause I thought it was hilarious when they said ‘double Dad defense’ in the third movie) They both then extended their right hands forward and bright golden light shewn from the palms of their hands. Within seconds, Po’s leg wound was fully healed and he was able to walk without a limp. “Wow! Thanks Dads! I didn’t realize you both could do the Chi technique so well!” Po said surprised at how quickly his fathers had healed the wound in his leg. “Well Son, nothing can stop a pair of Dads from helping their Son! No matter what it is!” Li Shan replied to Po. “I guess so...Well thanks a lot Dads! But Tigress and I better get back to telling the last of the citizens the news about the valley.” Po replied as he hugged both of his fathers one more time and went to head over to the felines. “Alright Son, take care of yourself!” Mr Ping replied as he waved to Po. “See you later Dads!” Po waved back and he joined Tigress and Hao.

 

“Had your family time?” Tigress said to him with a smile as they began to walk away from the noodle cart and went to go spread the news to more citizens. Po chuckled and replied “sorry about that, it’s just been nearly a month since I’ve seen either of them.” Po replied rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “It’s alright Po, seeing how much your father’s love you brings warm to my heart.” She replied still smiling. Po just smiled and nodded, then he said “common, we still have some citizens we have to tell the good news to, and then we can go home.” Hao’s ears perked up as he excitedly said “we can go back to the valley soon!? Does that mean that I’ll be able to go and work in the shop with Mr Ping again!?” Po just rubbed his eyes while shaking his head at the Cub’s antics, while Tigress smiled and replied to the Cub “of course Hao, but it’s been a long day today so you can go to see Mr Ping in the shop tomorrow instead.” Hao seemed disappointed but he decided to stay patient as he knew he would get a chance to continue pursuing his passion. “Okay Mamma, but I want to go see if Mr Ping will have started up the shop first thing in the morning tomorrow!” Hao said. Tigress chuckled and replied “of course, Hao.” “Yay! Thanks Mom!” Hao excitedly replied as he ran through the street happily. Po was still not used to hearing Hao call Tigress his mother and at first it was hard to believe that Tigress had actually adopted the Cub. But now it was beginning to make a lot of sense, even just from looking at the enthusiastic Cub, Po could recognize many traits and characteristics that he once displayed as a child, a very vibrant attitude and a keen interest in food to name a few. “You know, at first I was a little skeptical about you being his Mother, but now that I watch the two of you together, I can’t imagine a better Mother-Son relationship.” Po spoke to Tigress out of earshot from Hao. Tigress raised an eyebrow and replied “you were skeptical about me being a mother? Do you not trust me?” Po nervously cringed and said “N-No! That’s not what I meant! What I meant to say was-” “It’s alright Po, I understand what you meant, I’m just messing with you.” Tigress interrupted the stuttering Panda with a slight chuckle as she nudged his shoulder with her elbow. Po then wiped the sweat off his face with his hand and said “Phew! You really had me going there Tigress!” Tigress merely laughed at the Panda’s fear and she leaned her head against his shoulder and held his left paw in her right paw “I love you...” She said dreamily while she rested her head on the Panda’s strong broad shoulder. Po was taken back by her behavior, but he made no effort to stop her and instead welcomed the affection as he also leaned his head over her head which was perched on top of his shoulders “I love you too...”

 

**Nearly an Hour Later**

 

The last of the residents of the valley had been informed about the news about the defeat of another menace and the new found peace. Po and the Furious Five along with little Hao were returning to the valley from the mountain pass and were making good progress until they heard several stomach growls. “Umm, oh this is embarrassing, I don’t think I’ve had anthing to eat in about a day...” Po said hearing the sound that his stomach made. Hao also said “Mom, I’m hungry, how long until we get home?” Tigress just shook her head and rubbed her eyes in annoyance “we have to get back to the palace before either of you are fed...” She said trying to give the two the best answer she could to the two gluttons. “Ugghhh but it’s so far!...” Both Hao and Po said in Unison. All the other Furious Five laughed at this and they kept on their journey.

 

 

**Later that Day**

 

The others had returned to the Palace without either Po or Hao dying of starvation on the way, Shifu and Tai Lung had also returned from bringing the Bandits to the prison guards who would deliver the mercenaries to Chor Gohm Prison. Once everyone had regrouped at the Palace, they had held a large feast to honor their accomplishment as well as Tai Lung’s redemption. Both Hao and Po helped to prepare the feast and during this time Po had taught Hao some more cooking tips and tricks which made the Cub quite excited and willing to learn even more. The feast had more than accommodated the appetite of the Tiger Cub and the Giant Panda to their relief and had been. The weirdest thing about the entire feast was that it was the first meal that Tai Lung had eaten in nearly 4 years, since it is impossible to starve in the spirit realm, but the Snow Leopard did not dislike the meal, rather he enjoyed it. He had never known that the Panda was such a good cook, in fact he really hadn’t known much about the Panda at all, besides the fact that he was very persistent and a good fighter. As they all ate the their meals, Po told stories about how he nearly escaped Akuma’s encampment and also told some of the stories of his previous adventures to Hao who listened attentively as the Tiger Cub was interested in the Panda’s stories. “So you’re saying that you nearly escaped that huge encampment that Akuma had? What happened then? Crane asked Po during their conversation. Po nodded and replied so that everyone could hear him “yes, I was very close to escaping that place, just after they brought me to that prison, they locked me up. But I broke right through the chains that were attached to my arms and managed to get out of the cell undetected.” The others were very interested in the story and Monkey asked “How did you break out of those chain shackles Po?” Po looked at the Simian and replied “well Monkey, I had saved a lot of my energy on the way there so I focused my Chi to increase my physical strength and then all it took was a good pull.” “Ahh, I see, so what did you do once you got out of your cell? Surely there must have been some guards roaming the Prison halls?” Monkey replied with another question. Po smiled and said “Yeah, there were, but I sneakily roamed through the halls until I stumbled across a room called the Powder Room, the room was almost completely dark and it was filled with large barrels filled with the same substance that Shen used as fuse for his Cannons.” Everyone was listening, waiting to hear what happened next. “So I set fire to the barrels and it created a massive explosion, so I escaped through the massive crater in the building, but unfortunately on the way out my green tunic caught fire so I had to discard it.” Po said this as he pointed to the new green tunic that he had changed into once he had returned to the Palace. Then he continued “I was so close to escaping until I was shot in the leg and in the chest by an archer while I was rushing to get out, and it slowed me down enough for Akmua and his mercenaries to catch up to me and apprehend me.” Po said this as he pointed to the areas on his body where the arrows had pierced his skin.

 

**That night on Top of a Familiar Mountaintop**

 

Po was sitting underneath the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom looking down upon the village houses where there were some houses which were lit up, while others were turning out their lights for the night. This was a nice sight to say the least, but Po was not in a content mood at the moment, right now he was reminiscing a horrible event that he had been forced to watch. Right now he was remembering the female Brown Bear who had died at the hands of the Komodo Dragon, this memory still haunted him as he had never seen anyone die in such a way. And although Bao Ni had agreed to accept the consequences of her actions, Po still felt that some of the blame fell on him a he could not protect her. As he remembered one of the last things she had said before she died, a tear fell from his eye ‘just promise me Po...That you will...Keep protecting the innocent...’ Po then spoke to himself in a sad tone almost crying “but I couldn’t even save you...How can I possibly protect anyone else?” He continued talking to himself “I can’t protect the innocent from harm, hell, I can barely even protect my own home...” Po said to himself with very little confidence in his own ability. But then a voice from behind surprised the Panda as it said “Po...Why do you say such things about yourself?...” Po was startled by this as he thought he was alone on the peak. “Who’s there!? Oh, Tigress...It’s just you...” Po said as he turned around to see his girlfriend standing a couple of feet behind him. Tigress joked “well, I guess I can sneak up on you after all...” But unfortunately Po did not laugh at this joke, he instead turned his back to looking at the village houses as he let out a sigh. Tigress knew something was really bothering him and she asked “Po, the village is safe, Akuma is now behind bars, what’s still bothering you?” She said this as she walked up and sat beside him. Po frowned and looked down and said “but at what cost, I nearly killed everyone...If it hadn’t been for you I wo-” Po went on until Tigress put her paw over his mouth and interrupted him saying “you weren’t in control of your actions Po, much like the Kung Fu Masters who were controlled by Kai at the Panda village. And there’s no guarantee that you would have killed anyone, I know that you aren’t capable of such a thing, even if you are being controlled by someone else...” Tigress tried to knock some sense into the Panda who was moping.

 

“It’s not just that Tigress, I didn’t tell any of you this mostly because Hao was in our presence, but before Akuma invaded my mind, he killed a friend that I made at the prison right in front of me...And I couldn’t do anything to stop it...” Po said as he moved Tigress’ paw out of the way of his mouth, he began to shed tears as he said this. Tigress frowned hearing this, but she let the Panda continue “after I fainted from blood loss during my escape attempt, I woke up in an operating room in the Prison and the healer who treated me was a female Brown Bear named Bao Ni...” Tigress then developed a thought in her head and began to get a bit more defensive ‘she better not have done anything to him...’ But she snapped out of her trance and continued listening to the Panda “we became good friends in the Prison, in fact she was the only friend I had I that hell hole. She would visit me even when I was locked behind bars and she would ask me questions about my past and I would ask her about her past as well...” As he said this, Po thought ‘I had better not mention the part where she confessed her love to me...’ But he continued “and then one day, she came to visit me again, but shortly after she left, Akuma and his thugs brought her back to my cell after they had probably tortured her and Akuma killed her right in front of me...” Po now had tears falling from his eyes as he reminisced the horrible memory. Tigress was stunned, she had never heard of anyone doing anything so heartless, she put her arm over Po’s shoulder and said “That’s horrible Po...” Po then turned his head and looked the female Tiger right in the eyes as he said “I-I just don’t want to lose you the same way Tigress, I took a knife in the heart because I love you more than anything...” As he said this Po hugged Tigress very tightly almost crying as he was very emotional. Tigress just hugged her Panda back and replied in a comforting tone “I love you too Po.”

 

The two held onto each other for nearly 5 minutes not speaking or moving, they just embraced each other lovingly. But then Po broke the silence and the hug as he said “thank you...” Tigress nodded and without warning, she pressed her lips against his and began to undo his green tunic pressing her paws on his bare chest and pushing him to the ground, he recovered quickly and he leaned into the kiss letting her slowly push him to the ground. After nearly a minute, the two broke apart for air and Po looked up to the female Tiger who was right on top of him and he said “you really need to let me know when your going to do that next time, you catch me by surprise every time...” Tigress chuckled as she replied “but that would spoil all the fun wouldn’t it?” Tigress responded with a mischievous smile on her face as she looked down at her Panda who she had pinned to the ground. Po replied “you’re right, it would.” Tigress still smiled as she continued “would you like to continue this somewhere more private?...” As she said this Po looked a bit nervous and he asked her “umm, what do you mean by ‘continue’...” Tigress once again smiled mischievously as she responded to the clueless Panda “I’m sure you know what I mean handsome...” Po gulped and said “Oh no...You don’t mean what I think you do, do you?” Tigress licked her lips as in a seductive way as she said “mmhhmm...” Tigress then got up from him and dragged the Panda by the arm saying “you have been practicing to increase your stamina so this should be easy for you Po.” Po just let the female Tiger drag him but he nervously replied “but this isn’t what I was training for...” and as she dragged him towards the hot springs far from the Palace he said “please Tigress, I just got back...” Tigress just smiled at his skepticism, "oh common Po, we can still have a little fun...” She replied, clearly in heat.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 19

 

Proposal

 

**Nearly 3 Months Later, Early in the Morning at the Student Barracks**

 

Po woke up bright and early to begin his training regiment which he had resumed shortly after he had returned to the Palace after the entire ordeal with the Komodo Dragon Tyrant Akuma. Thankfully, this time Po hadn’t woken up with a nightmare, but rather woke up early thanks to the sunlight that slightly illuminated his room. He rose from his bed and exhaled, almost sighing happily as he thought to himself ‘today is the day that I ask her...I’m ready for this, but I just don’t know if she’ll say yes...’ This thought worried him slightly, what if she really didn’t say yes? Many thoughts swirled through Po’s mind as he contemplated whether he should or shouldn’t ask the female Tiger the question he had wanted to ask her for a long time. But he decided he would focus on the matter later and would go and train to reduce some of the stress, so he slid on his white training vest and his black training slacks and opened his doors to head on his way. As he passed Tigress’ room he smiled as he thought ‘she will say yes...I know it.’ And then he left to go on his way towards the palace gates being sure not to make much noise as to not prematurely wake anyone.

 

As he was on his way towards the Palace gates, a voice called to him “Dragon Warrior!” Po then turned his head to see where the voice came from, and as he turned he saw Tai Lung jump from the top of a tree branch and landed on the ground next to Po. “Good Morning Master Tai Lung, may I ask why you’re up so early?” Po asked politely to the Snow Leopard. In the past two months, Po along with the help of the others had helped to assure the public in the valley of peace that Tai Lung had been redeemed and was now helping to protect the Valley of Peace from villainy. He was rather proud of the work they had done, for it had allowed the Leopard a second chance which had been much appreciated by Tai Lung who could now go into the valley without the citizens being skeptical. Then Tai Lung replied to the Panda “well, I woke up early so I could catch you before your morning training routines.” Po raised and eyebrow and asked “oh really? So what do you need?” Tai Lung chuckled as he responded “you haven’t already forgotten, have you?” Po was confused by this, he couldn’t remember promising anything to the Leopard any time so-oh wait...Po then remembered exactly what it was that the Leopard was referring to and he replied “ahh yes, you want to have a rematch against me?” Tai Lung nodded and replied “precisely Dragon Warrior, if you have the time this morning...” Po laughed and said with a smirk “of course, it’ll be a good training exercise.” Tai Lung just smiled and said “don’t get cocky Dragon Warrior, I’ve improved much since our last fight...” Po still laughed as he said “I would expect so.”

 

The two Warriors then headed to the arena just outside of the training hall where they both got into their fighting stances and prepared themselves. “Are you ready to lose Dragon Warrior?” Tai Lung said with a confident smirk. Po smirked back and simply said “your move.” The two warriors stood about 20 feet from one another and were both ready for the other to make a move. Tai Lung then lunged to attack the Panda, running on all fours to increase his speed. And within a second, Tai Lung reached his opponent and launched his left fist towards the Panda’s head trying to overwhelm Po with his incredible speed. But Po was not so easily caught off guard for he reacted quickly and ducked his head and rolled out of the way successfully dodging the Snow Leopard’s attack. Tai Lung was slightly frustrated with this as he had underestimated the Panda’s abilities, so he continued on the offense, however it was no use as Po’s reaction time was too great for Tai Lung to land a successful blow on the Panda. Po on the other hand was merely avoiding the Leopard’s attacks to find a good opportunity to strike, and it seemed he would get that chance soon as Tai Lung was growing more frustrated after every missed swing he took. And surely enough, eventually Po’s strategy worked as Tai Lung was tiring slightly, but enough for Po to make his move. As Tai Lung sent another powerful jab towards Po’s head, Po ducked just enough for the punch to barely miss his head. And in the blink of an eye, he responded with an epic uppercut to the Leopard’s jaw sending Tai Lung flying up 10 feet up into the air and landing hard. (Think Ryu or Ken’s Shoryuken from street fighter) The massive blow to his jaw really hurt the Snow Leopard but he kept going, getting off the ground with a kip up and immediately attacking the Panda again. But Po just kept dodging the blows and retreated back avoiding getting cornered. Tai Lung wasn’t finished yet though as during his time training with Oogway, the tortoise had taught him many superior fighting techniques that he hadn’t known before, and so the Leopard went back to his training. Po then dodged the Leopard’s last punch and answered with a powerful double handed punch (similar to Tigress’ double palm strike) right at Tai Lung’s face. But for a change, Tai Lung dodged this strike by side swiping very quickly and responded by hitting the Panda in the gut with a powerful kick and hitting Po in the side of the head with a strong single handed punch. These blows sent Po back a couple of feet and he backward somersaulted to recover, he then spit out a tooth that Tai Lung had knocked out and wiped his mouth. “You really have improved much since our last fight...” Po spoke to the Leopard with a bit of a smile. Tai Lung chuckled and replied “indeed I have Dragon Warrior.” Po laughed at this and said “don’t get ahead of yourself though.” As he said this Po loosened his shoulders and got back into his fighting stance. Then without warning, Po charged the Leopard on all fours so quickly that Tai Lung couldn’t react in time and was tackled to the ground by the enormous Panda. As Po pinned Tai Lung to the ground he threw several punches at the Leopard’s face each of which were dodged and the Panda’s fists hit the ground so hard that it cracked the ground. Tai Lung new he was in trouble so he rolled away from the Panda and got back up and into his fighting stance. But before he could recover again, Po rushed him and landed a solid punch right in the Snow Leopard’s face where he was unprotected. This Punch sent Tai Lung back and he skidded on the ground which gave him slight rug burn on his back. Dissatisfied, Tai Lung growled angrily and he unsheathed his claws preparing to attack once again. Po too unsheathed his claws and growled exposing his sharper teeth, not backing down from the Leopard’s attempt to intimidate him.

 

Both warriors now resembled angry feral animals now as they growled loudly and stared each other down not taking their eyes off each other. After a solid minute of attempting to intimidate the other, Tai Lung and Po lunged at each other roaring as they did so, both with the intent to pummel the other to the ground. Tai Lung went to scratch the Panda with his claws from the top, however Po anticipated this and grabbed the feline’s paws crushing them slightly. Tai Lung yelped in pain as Po twisted his paws upward making it very uncomfortable for the Leopard as the Panda was very close to breaking either of his wrists. So he pulled his arms back to free his hands and tried to punch the Panda in the face as quick as he could. But Po ducked underneath the punch and used the opportunity to do a low leg sweep that tripped Tai Lung and forced him to fall on his back nearly knocking the wind out of him. Po then quickly got up and jumped up and went to punch the Leopard while he was down, but Tai Lung recovered and rolled out of the way just avoiding the Panda’s punch which hit the ground hard. It was now very evident that Tai Lung was struggling as he was now panting after having to deal with the Panda’s immense strength and speed. He got up from the ground and immediately had to dodge another powerful blow from the Panda. He leaped back to finally make some distance from him and his opponent. As Tai Lung landed far from the Panda he was panting hard as he had used much stamina to avoid getting knocked out by the Panda’s attacks. Po relaxed himself and allowed the Leopard to catch his breath as he too recovered some stamina, he then mocked Tai Lung as he said “had enough yet?” Tai Lung just laughed off the Panda’s cocky attitude and he replied “I must say Dragon Warrior, I never expected you could be such a lethal fighter, it’s no wonder you are the hero of China...” Po just nodded and replied “shall we continue now?” Tai Lung got into his fighting stance and nodded.

 

The two warriors then rushed each other, both sprinting on all fours with great ferocity. As they reached each other, there was a great struggle as the two pushed against each other as a testament of their immense strength. Neither could seem to overpower the other as each seemed equally strong, however Tai Lung knew that the Panda would eventually overpower him as he was getting tired once again, so he came up with a plan. He kept distracting the Panda using his strength to keep pushing the Panda back, but then he used his tail and tripped Po by pulling one of the Panda’s legs forward making him fall on his back and making a loud ‘Thud!’ sound.

 

As Po’s back hit the ground the wind was nearly knocked out of him but he looked up and reacted just in time. Tai Lung had intended to stomp right on the Panda’s chest to finish him off, however Po reacted just in time using both of his hands to catch the foot that would have crushed him. He then used much strength to push Tai Lung’s foot up and then he launched the Leopard away from him. Tai Lung hadn’t expected the Panda to react so quickly and he had just lost all of his momentum, as Po had gotten up. He then made one last stand and attempted to hit the Panda with a powerful spin kick, however Po still had much more in him as he braced himself for the Snow Leopard’s attack. Po successfully blocked the attack using his right hand to stop the kick while maintaining a firm stance to avoid getting knocked back. Tai Lung was then worried as this was his last opportunity to knock the Panda down and it had failed, he then began to retreat back as he was very tired. But Po did not give him the chance to get away, so he ran at Tai Lung and body checked the Leopard hard. Tai Lung still stood after this hit, but Po didn’t stop and he got ready to use a move that he had attempted to perfect recently. Po then ran at Tai Lung who seemed to attempt to block whatever he was going to do, however the Panda then used a move he had never seen before, Po performed a hurricane kick (similar to Ryu’s Tatsumaki sempukyaku from street fighter) that hit Tai lung 3 times until the Leopard fell to the ground. Po was astonished that he had managed to pull the move off as he panted trying to catch his breath after the tiring fight. But he noticed that the snow Leopard was still on the ground but was breathing, he then walked over to Tai Lung and offered a helping hand up, to which the Leopard took the Panda’s paw and said while panting “I’ve...Never seen...That move...Before...” Po smiled and he replied, “that would make sense, since I’m the one who invented it.” Tai Lung just chuckled as he replied “you know I’m going to want another rematch right?” Po laughed as he replied “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” The two warriors smiled at one another and then they respectfully bowed to each other.

 

“WOW! THAT WAS AWESOME!” A youthful voice shouted seemingly out of nowhere. The warriors then looked over to the young Tiger Cub who was trying to imitate some of the fighting moves that he had seen the warriors perform during their fight. They then also noticed Tigress who was standing next to the Cub looking at the two warriors with her arms crossed and shaking her head. Po and Tai Lung just shrugged their shoulders and both said “what?” They didn’t know why the female Tiger was shaking her head at them. “You’re going to teach me how to do that Po.” Tigress said as she walked towards the two with Hao following closely behind. She was wearing he golden robe with red lotus flower designs, this was Po’s personal favorite attire that she would wear. Po replied “show you how to do what? Beat Tai Lung in a fight?” As Po said this he heard the Snow Leopard growl slightly and he heard Tigress chuckle. “Not that, that move you just executed, you’re going to show me how to do that.” She replied as she now stood next to the two warriors with Hao at her side. Po laughed as he replied “okay, but you know I can always teach you how to defeat Tai Lung if you want...” Tai Lung then interrupted “you know I can hear you Dragon Warrior...” Po responded “oh I know you can.” Tigress laughed at the two warriors and she said “just the move Po, I already know how to beat him.” Tai Lung then interrupted again, “what!? I seem to remember beating you along with the rest of your little ‘team’ last time we fought.” Tigress chuckled as she replied “that may be true, but it’s been years since we last fought and I have also improved much over the years.” Then out of nowhere Hao interrupted and said “Oh Ya! Mamma’s going to fight Tai Lung!” Tigress looked down at the enthusiastic Cub and chuckled as she replied “no Hao, we aren’t going to fight-” “Oh really Master Tigress? And here I thought you always wanted a rematch with anyone who has beaten you. What ever happened to that person?” Tai Lung interrupted her with a smirk. Tigress then growled as she replied “now who told you that?” A faint giggle was heard as she said this and Tigress looked over to the Panda who was covering his mouth trying not to laugh. “Po...When you teach me this new move, would you be so kind as to be the target when I try it out?” As Tigress said this Po interjected and said “what!? That’s not fair!” Tigress smiled in content as she got exactly the reaction she had wanted out of the Panda, “is it? Well, I don’t suppose you want what happened to you last night to happen again do you?” Po then looked very nervous and he scrambled as he said “ah! No! Please don’t ever do that again! I’ll do anything!” Tigress smiled and then she replied “then it’s settled, you will be the test subject after you teach me this new move.” After she said this, Tigress said “alright Hao, why don’t we take you to Mr Ping’s?” Hao replied happily “alright Mamma! See you later Po!” As her and Hao walked away, Po waved back at the Cub and then he slumped his shoulders and sighed. Then he heard the Cub say to Tigress as they walked away “hey Mom? What happened with you and Po last night that Po is so afraid of?” At this Tigress laughed and replied “oh don’t worry about it Hao, let’s just call it ‘a grown up matter’.” Tai Lung then began to laugh at Po who was covering his face with his left hand in embarrassment, Po then without warning just punched Tai Lung in the shoulder, making the Snow Leopard fall as he said “Ow.”

 

**8 Hours Later at the Tournament Arena**

 

The sun was setting across the mountains, making for a beautiful yellow and red sky. Po was in the midst of teaching Tigress his hurricane kick which he had used as a finishing move on Tai Lung earlier that morning. They had been at this for nearly an hour, ever since Tigress had returned to the Palace with Hao after the Cub had spent the day down into the noodle shop with Mr Ping and Li Shan. Po had changed into his most formal clothes as he wore his vibrant green tunic and his black slacks and now wore the new cloak that he had acquired during a trip he had made to the capital of China Beijing when he went to meet the emperor. Right now, he was observing Tigress’ technique while also slightly blushing at how graceful and beautiful her movements were as she attempted to replicate the hurricane kick that Po had been teaching her to do. At the moment, she was merely going through the motions and seemed to be mastering the move quickly until the Panda called to her “looking good Tigress, remember the more momentum you get from the approach, the more power you will have in the 3 kicks.” Tigress smiled and nodded as she took Po’s advice and began to try a running start whilst performing the move. Po was sitting down on a rock that he had pulled over and he was admiring the female Tiger as she practiced. But though he seemed calm and happy, his mind was clamorous and filled with thoughts ‘should I ask her now? Or should I ask her today? Gods she is so beautiful...’ Those were just a few thoughts that swirled through the Panda’s mind. But just then, he noticed a group of peach tree leaves blowing in the wind in a very distinctive pattern, almost as if they were a message to him. And then his thoughts were interrupted by a Tigress who spoke to him “Po? Are you alright? You seem distraught.” Po shook his head trying to snap himself out of his trance and then he replied “oh! Um, yeah! Everything is fine Tigress, I was just...Thinking...” Tigress wasn’t convinced by this, but she decided to ask the Panda a new question “okay Po...Anyway, I was wondering why you chose this place to train. I mean, we could have trained at the training hall or say the Ironwood forest, but here?” Po thought to himself ‘okay...I’m going to do it, this is as good of a time as any...’ Po then stood up from the rock he was sitting on and he held both of her hands in his as he said “Tigress, do you know why this place is so special to me?” Tigress’ mind starting going crazy as she though ‘wait, what is he doing now...’ She then asked “well, isn’t this where you were officially declared the Dragon Warrior?” Po nodded and responded “it is, however, it is also the place where I met you for the first time...”

 

**Meanwhile on Top of a Nearby Building Around the Palace Arena**

 

“Is he really going to do it!?” Mantis whispered to all of his comrades who were watching the spectacle from on a rooftop on a building at the side of the tournament arena. Crane then whispered back to him “I really hope they do to be honest! It would give me a reason to arrange another wedding!” At this Viper giggled and whispered “you know Crane, you really should take Shifu’s advice and just pursue a career as a wedding planner! I had never seen you be such a perfectionist as when you were arranging Po and Lu Shi’s wedding.” Crane then replied “hmm, maybe I should do that, I guess it couldn’t hurt to give it a try.” Monkey then interrupted and said “Po told me that the ring he got her was crafted by the most skilled jewelers in all of China, and that he got the ring in Beijing during his trip to see the emperor a month ago!” Mantis then responded quietly “wow! Did he ever say how much he paid for the Ring?” Monkey then replied “oh yeah! Po told me that the jewelers were offering the Ring for 6 million Yuan (Almost 1 million in USD) but the emperor gave it to him for free as a gift for consistently saving the country!” “6 million Yuan!?” All the others said nearly yelling, but kept their voices down so that the two wouldn’t hear them. “Gods Po is so lucky!” Mantis said almost jealously.

 

**Back Down at the Palace Arena With Po and Tigress…**

 

“Tigress, I love you more than anything in this world, and I have wanted to ask this question for a long time...” Po then knelt on the ground with Tigress standing right before him as he was still holding both her paws, but then let go of her left paw as he used his right hand to reach behind him to get something. Tigress was almost speechless right now, she couldn’t understand what Po was doing and why he seemed so formal ‘what is he doing? Why is he acting so dramatic and formal?’ But just then she noticed that the Panda was pulling back a box shaped object from behind him and he now held the object before her. ‘That isn’t what I think it is...No...’ Tigress thought, but her thoughts were interrupted as Po let go of her other paw and he opened the box and revealed a glistening silver ring with amazing engravings of what looked to be a Dragon and a Tiger surrounding a Yin and Yang symbol. And at the center of the ring was a beautiful red diamond.

 

“ _ **Tigress...Will you marry me?**_

 

For Tigress, time seemed to slow to a halt as she now looked down upon the Panda who she loved more than anything who was proposing to her. Tigress couldn’t even think as the moment was so overwhelming. Tigress remained speechless for nearly 4 seconds which was starting to greatly worry Po ‘oh no...’ Po thought. But then, tears formed in Tigress’ eyes as she struggled “Po...I...” She said with a stutter as a million thoughts raced through her brain. She then replied sounding excited “I...Yes!” As she said this, Po smiled while not saying a word as he then took the beautiful ring and placed it on her left paw’s ring finger. (Ring finger is the fourth from right on the left hand) Tears now began streaming from Tigress’ eyes as the Panda slid the ring onto her finger. He then stood up with a wide smile and he also began to shed tears. Tigress without warning, compulsively pressed her lips against the Panda’s and the two engaged in a passionate kiss. Po then lifted the Tiger into the air and swung her around as the two still kissed. After nearly a minute, Po let the female Tiger down in front of him and was completely speechless as he stared into the Tiger’s beautiful amber colored eyes. “Po...I...This Diamond...It’s the same color as my-” Tigress said looking at the right on her finger before she was interrupted by Po who said “your eyes. They are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen, so it seemed fitting...” The two just starred at each other right in the eyes as the sun began to set over the valley.

 

* * *

 

 

Chapter 20

 

Arrival

 

**Nearly 7 Months Later at Ping & Shan’s Noodle Shop**

 

“There’s no need to worry Master Tigress, believe me when I say that if you’re having Pandas then it will be easy.” Li Shan spoke to the female Tiger who sat in a chair next to him. Tigress had now been married to Po for nearly 6 months now and at this point she was 4 and a half months pregnant. (Basically 9 months because Tiger gestation only usually lasts about 4-5 months) She had first found out about this when she started to feel symptoms such as fatigue, slight nausea and also would feel hungry much more frequently than before. Po had noticed these symptoms very early on and recommended that she see the village doctor, a kind elder female Boar named Mrs Zhu. Tigress had obliged and visited Mrs Zhu, and at the end of her checkup with the elder female Boar, Mrs Zhu had concluded that she was pregnant. Tigress hadn’t even thought it was possible for this to happen, what with Po being of a different species however despite this, she had been absolutely overjoyed at the news and told Po that very day. Po had been so happy upon hearing the news that he began to tell everyone of the news including the rest of the Furious Five, his two Fathers and his adoptive son Hao. However when he had told Shifu the news, the Red Panda had not reacted the way that he thought he would and unfortunately for Po, he had received quite a beating that day.

 

Now Tigress was nearing the end of her gestation and had gained nearly 30 pounds as a result. And though it would seem like a lot of weight, luckily for her it wasn’t very noticeable as the weight was well distributed from her torso to her abdomen. However, during this time she had to wear slightly larger clothes to accommodate for this which annoyed her as she always preferred to wear her training clothes. Today she wore a very beautiful blue robe which was similar to her traditional golden rode with red lotus leaves. And as she sat at a table with her husband and father-in-law she could feel the Cub or Cub’s kicking, her cubs had been doing this much more often as of late, and she had initially been worried by this, however Mrs Zhu had reassured her that this was normal for her as Tiger Cubs do this quite often near the end of gestation. Although she knew she was pregnant, she still didn’t know whether it was only one Cub, she also didn’t know what gender it or they would be. However she had already come up with at least 6 possible names for every possible outcome, 3 female names and 3 male names each of which Po had approved of. Tigress then replied to Li Shan with a question “wait, what do you mean ‘if I’m having Pandas then it will be easy’?” Li Shan chuckled as he replied “well, for one thing, Panda cubs are absolutely tiny when they’re born! Heck! Po was only about 4 and a half ounces when he was born! And that was heavy for a Panda Cub!” Li Shan responded as he began to chuckle, almost perfectly remembering the day his son was born. Tigress was surprised by this and she then raised an eyebrow and asked “really? What else was Po like when he was a Cub?” She then looked over at her husband with an expression that seemed mischievous and curious. At this Po looked embarrassed as he said to his father “uhh, okay Dad, I think that’s enough with the stories for now-” But before he could finish, he was interrupted by Li Shan who said “oh sure! He was just the most adorable thing in the universe! When he was first born, like all other Panda newborns, Po was pink, furless, and completely blind!” At this Tigress seemed to adore the story about her husband’s childhood, and then Li Shan continued “however one thing you should know if you are going to have Pandas is that when they’re newborns they squeal and vocalize a lot...And when I say a lot, I mean A LOT. Though Po actually was generally more quiet than most Pandas, but when Po’s mother would ever let go of him, well let’s just say you wouldn’t hear the end of it...” Tigress’ expression then changed from being engrossed, to being a bit nervous. This didn’t go unnoticed by Li Shan though and he reassured her “but don’t worry Master Tigress, as long as you keep them nice and warm and feed them regularly, they wont cause you much trouble. Oh! And a word of advice if your Cub or Cubs are indeed Pandas, a great way to keep them warm is to carry them in your mouth.” Tigress nearly cringed at this and responded “what!? Carry them in my mouth!? What if I accidentally bite them?” She asked thinking that the large Panda had lost his mind. “Oh no, I’m serious. Trust me, it keeps them very warm and it’s not as hard as you think, Po’s mother often did this and he didn’t complain much.” Tigress didn’t seem convinced by this and she replied “but Po’s mother was a Panda, wasn’t she? I’m clearly not a Panda...” Li Shan then responded “oh I know, but you don’t just have to do that to keep them warm, you can keep them tucked in your arms or you can wrap them up in some sort of blanket, but I would mostly recommend a natural way.” Tigress crossed her arms as she replied “And that’s assuming that they’re Pandas, but thank you for the advice Li.” Li nodded and replied looking into the kitchen “your welcome, just make sure to show us it or them when they’re born! I’ll bet Ping will love to see his new grandchildren!” Po then commented sarcastically “because it will mean that he can get some more help in the shop...”

 

(If any of you are wondering how I know so much about Panda Cubs, I used to work at the Toronto Zoo as a Giant Panda Caretaker, and during my time there, the female Panda that was called Er Shun had twin Cubs which I helped to raise.)

 

Both Tigress and Li Shan laughed at this comment and then the three of them heard a voice coming from the kitchen “hey Mom! Dad! Look what I made!” The three looked over to the origin of the voice and noticed Hao running out of the kitchen still wearing a white apron over top of his training clothes and holding out what looked to be a fresh bowl of noodle soup on a platter. Hao had also grown quite a bit over the months, and he was now nearly a half a foot taller than when Tigress adopted him. Po then called to him “watch out Hao! Don’t spill it!” Just as Po said this, Hao then accidentally took a misstep and dropped the bowl. But before the Bowl crashed into the ground, Po lunged over and slid, catching the bowl with one hand and saving almost the entire soup. “Woops, sorry Dad...” Hao said looking ashamed with himself. Po chuckled as he got up and he replied “it’s alright Hao, just remember to be patient next time.” Hao responded back “okay Dad. Hey Mom! I made your favorite meal!” Hao said to his mother as Po handed the bowl of soup back to him. “Did you? Well let’s see it!” Tigress replied to her Cub with a smile. Hao then set the bowl of soup before his mother and had an expression that said ‘so?’ Tigress looked at the bowl of soup before her and she said “it looks great! But does it taste good?” She said this as she took the spoon before her and tried a sip of the soup and her taste buds were immediately satisfied. “I toned down the spices a bit because of ‘you know what’.” Hao commented as his mother tried the bowl of noodle soup that he had made for her. “It tastes great Hao, thank you very much! It looks like your training is paying off!” Hearing his mother compliment him, Hao shot his hands up in the air as he said “Yes! Thanks Mom!” Tigress smiled at her son’s positive attitude as she nodded, then she took her spoon and kept eating the soup as she was quite hungry at the present moment.

 

Once Tigress had finished her soup, her and Hao began on their way back to the Jade Palace and said their goodbyes to Mr Ping and Li Shan. “How are you feeling?” Po asked as they left the noodle shop. “I feel fine Po, certainly much better after I had Hao’s soup.” She responded looking down to the Cub who looked very happy to hear her say this. The three then headed up the 1000 stairs with Po and Tigress holding hands while watching Hao scale the stairs running ahead of them. Po then said “do you need me to carry you?” Tigress replied “I can manage it Po, Mrs Zhu said to stay active until the Cub or Cubs are born.” As she said this, she felt the Panda kiss her on the cheek and he said “even when you’re pregnant, nothing can stop you from being strong and determined...” Tigress smiled at this and she replied “but you love that about me, don’t you?” Po chuckled as he responded “indeed I do...” Po then scooped up the female Tiger in his arms and kissed her on the lips to which she kissed him back until he let her down. “Ewww, why do you always have to kiss!?” Said Hao as he cringed from a couple of steps up. Hao’s Parents just looked at each other and laughed.

 

**About Half an Hour later at the Top of the 1000 Steps**

 

The three had finally reached the top of the stairs having been slowed down slightly because of Tigress, however none of them seemed bothered by this as each of them understood her situation. However shortly after arriving at the top of the stairs Hao and Po were slowed down again as they looked back and saw Tigress who had stopped and was kneeling and seemed like she was in some form of discomfort. Po ran back and asked her “are you alright?” Tigress didn’t look up at him, but she replied “I don’t know, everything feels tight for some reason, I think it’s happening Po...” Po seemed to have a worried expression at this and he responded “what do you mean? What’s happening?” He had a feeling that he knew what her response would be. “I think the Cubs are coming...” She replied to him now looking up at him. Po’s expression went from one of worry to one of determination and he then called to Hao “Hao, go get the rest of the five as well as Shifu and bring them to the village hospital as quickly as you can.” Hao then nodded his head and ran off to the Palace. Po then looked at his wife and he said “alright come on, I’ll carry you there, just hang in there.” Tigress quickly tried to interject “Po I’m fi-” But before she could argue with the Panda, Po picked her up bride style and began to head back down the stairs towards the village hospital. He didn’t reply to her and merely directed all of his focus to getting her to the hospital as quickly as he could.

 

As Po carried her down the 1000 steps towards the village, Tigress had originally wanted to refuse Po’s help and thought she could make it to the hospital on her own, however now as he carried her, she felt more relaxed. Sure she could still feel the contractions of her Cubs, but being in her husbands arms made her feel warm and comfortable, not to mention that it probably wouldn’t be such a great idea for her to walk when she was this close to giving birth. While Po carried her down the stairs she just looked at his determined and focused face dreamily as she thought ‘however many there are, they will be lucky to have a protective and loving father.’

 

**Nearly 4 Hours Later in the Village Hospital**

 

Po paced back and forth restlessly as he waited outside of the delivery room where Tigress had been in for the last 4 hours. To say he was distraught would have been an understatement, he was downright impatient. He couldn’t stand that the midwives and the doula had requested that Tigress be left alone during the birth of the Cubs. As he paced back and forth, he growled slightly at the thought that he couldn’t be with his own wife when their first Cub or Cubs were born. “Po, brother, you need to sit down, Tigress will be fine.” Viper tried to reason with the unruly Panda. Po then threw his arms up in the air and said “but what if she won’t be fine!? What if something’s wrong and they can’t help her!?” Po suggested as he worried himself even more. Viper responded “she’ll be fine Po, right now you have to be patient and trust in them as well as trust in Tigress.” Po wanted to argue with Viper’s opinion but when he was just about to interject, he felt someone hug his leg and say “Dad, Viper’s right! You should sit down with us and wait.” As Po looked down at his adoptive son, Po instantly lost most of his worry and he replied “okay Hao, I guess you’re right, patience is the best option.” Po then went to sit down on a chair next to the rest of the Furious Five and he picked up the White Tiger Cub and placed Hao on his lap deciding to patiently wait for the outcome. Viper then smiled as she said “wow Hao, I don’t remember you being so patient before, you must be learning quite a lot when working in the restaurant with your grandfather.” Hao looked at Viper and nodded saying “oh ya! Grandpa teaches me a lot about patience! But it’s mostly Dad who teaches me how to be more patient! Right Dad?” This made Po blush as he thought about how impatient he had just been, however he was the one telling his own son to be patient. “Uhh, yes Hao, but it seems that you’re the more patient of the two of us.” All the other Furious Five laughed at this and Mantis said “well, I’m sure all of us knew that Po can sometimes be a hypocrite.” They all laughed at this, even Po decided to have a sense of humour and laughed at himself.

 

Then Crane started “I wonder what gender the Cub or Cubs will be-” Mantis who was standing on the arm of a chair then interrupted the avian and said “forget the gender man! I wonder whether they will be Panda-like or Tiger-like!” Crane did not look happy with the insect and he cleared his throat and continued “-ahem- As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted...” Crane said this while looking right at Mantis. “Po, do you have any names picked out for them?” Po nodded at this and replied “yes, we have, Tigress have come up with 6 names, 3 male names and 3 female names just in case.” Viper then said “really? Which ones do you think you’ll prioritize the most?” Po then replied “well, to be honest, I’m going to let Tigress pick the names, she will have gone through a lot so...” Mantis then spoke again and said “man, you guys are all so lucky, you actually have a chance to name your children, I won’t...” Everyone laughed at this as they all knew that Mantis would lose his head before he would get the chance to name his children. Hao however did not understand what the insect meant by this and he asked “wait, what do you mean ‘you won’t get to name your children’?” Po then looked down at his son who still sat on his lap and he replied to the Cub “well Hao, let’s just say that Mantis won’t see much after he finds a girl...” Then Mantis looked like he was going to explain what he meant in more detail, however before he had the chance, Po put a finger over the insect’s mouth with a facial expression that read ‘not with Hao around.’ Then Monkey spoke out “hey Mantis, I’m willing to bet 50 Almond Cookies that they’ll be Tiger-like!” Mantis smirked at this and he replied “you still owe me from the last bet, so your on! If they’re Panda-like then you owe me 50 almond cookies!” Hao was curious as to what the two were talking about and he whispered to his father “hey Dad? What are they talking about almond cookies?” Po looked down and chuckled slightly as he whispered to his son “well Hao, they’re gambling on whether the Cub or Cubs will look like Pandas, or if they will look like Tigers.” Just then Po heard Mantis say to Monkey “I’m just worried, I mean, what if they are missing a finger? Or what if they have more fingers than they’re supposed to? That’s worse isn’t it?” Po had to covered Hao’s ears so the Cub wouldn’t hear the insect’s inappropriate comments and Viper snapped at him “Mantis! Do you have any sense at all!?” At this the insect replied “What? I was just sayi-” “Mantis! Just stop, please!” Po also angrily snapped at Mantis.

 

But just then, everyone in the room heard a loud roaring sound come from the delivery room. Po knew exactly what it was that made that sound, he got Hao off of his lap and he went to rush over to the doors, but he was stopped by Viper who wrapped her tail around his arm and said “I know you want to help her brother, but you have to trust them.” Po then pulled his arm out of Viper’s grasp and he yelled “Let me go Viper! I need to help her!” Just a second after Po said this, another loud roar was heard from the delivery room. Po couldn’t wait anymore, so he ran towards the door to the delivery room and looked like he was about to pound it open, but just before he did so, the doors were opened by Mrs Zhu.

 

“ **Congratulations Dragon Warrior, it’s twins...”**

 

Po’s eyes then lit up and his mood immediately went from one of extreme worry to one of pure excitement. Po then saw the other midwives leaving the room as well, he then looked like he was about to say something to the elderly docter, however no words seemed to come out. Mrs Zhu smiled as she said “you can go in now if you’d like Dragon Warrior.” Po didn’t even respond to the female Boar and upon hearing this he walked into the room, not wasting any time at all. When he entered the room, he saw his wife lying down sideways on a soft and comfortable bed with her back against him and a blanket over top of her back. Just then, Tigress turned her head around and saw the Panda who stood behind her, his face bewildered in shock. She didn’t say anything at all, but she had one of the happiest facial expressions that Po had ever seen, then as she finally spoke in a slow and quite manner “Po...Come...” Po did what he was told and he quietly walked up to his wife who still lied down on the bed on her side. But once he got close to her, he could hear a faint noise that sounded like a sucking sound of some sort. He then walked around the side of the bed and when he got around to the other side of the bed, he saw the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life, the blanket that covered Tigress’ back was exposed at her abdomen, and at her abdomen lie 2 small Tiger Cubs. They were both nestled up next to Tigress’ abdomen and noises that sounded like sucking were coming from both of them. They were feeding. They both had very wet fur and were only around 7 inches long, they looked almost exactly like any Tiger would with somewhat defined black stripes with orange and white fur color, however when Po took a better look at the Cubs heads he noticed that there were unusual black patches of fur around their eyes, they had inherited their father’s black fur patches on their eyes. Po’s eyes began to tear up and his jaw opened slightly “they’re...they’re beautiful...” The Panda whispered as his eyes began to drop tears as if they were rain clouds. Tigress just looked at her husband who was now shaking and tearing up greatly, she didn’t say anything and just starred into his jade green eyes. Po just kept tearing and he now also looked into his wife’s amber eyes “I...I love you so much...” Po said emotionally as he nestled his head up against Tigress’ and kissed her on her cheek.

 

Just then, Tigress felt one of the Cubs move around, she turned her head around and noticed that one of the cubs wasn’t suckling anymore and was attempting to bury itself underneath the other Cub which had been feeding beside it. Right now, the Cubs were blind and so the Cub struggled to find it’s way, so Tigress leaned over and picked up the Cub and brought it next to her head. As she did this, the Cub had made sounds that sounded like a hybrid between a scream and a grunt. But then Tigress took the Cub and began to lick it. As Po watched the entire thing unfold he was mesmerized as he saw how Tigress licked the Cub to keep its fur clean and to strengthen the bond between mother and Cub. This also seemed to quiet the Cub down as it allowed Tigress to lick its fur in all areas, and as Tigress did this Po silently asked “it’s a male?” At this Tigress nodded and whispered “yes, this is Genji.” Po smiled and thought to himself ‘that was the first male name we came up with.’ Once Tigress had finished licking the Cup, she placed him back where he could feed on her milk quietly. And he did just so, immediately returning to feeding once again. Po then whispered to his wife “and the other one?” Tigress looked at Po and said “female.” Po’s eyes widened, he had not considered that the twins could be of different gender and this surprised him. Tigress then continued “her name is Mariko.” And as she said this, the female Cub ironically moved it’s head for several seconds and then immediately went back to feeding. Tigress and Po both looked at each other and just smiled at how adorable their Cubs were. Tigress then quietly said “she was the first to come, and she hasn’t made hardly any noise, she just feeds...” Po looked at the female Cub and thought ‘Mariko, that was the first female name we came up with too...’ But just as Tigress said this, the male Cub began to move again making sounds as it did so, this time trying to move the female Cub out of the way slightly to get more space to feed. Tigress looked at the male Cub and once again whispered to Po “he was the second to come, and he’s a lot more rowdy and competitive than his sister, he’s tried to move her away nearly 3 times already...” Po still wasn’t worried by any of this, all that mattered to him right now was that 2 new members had now been added to their family. And now, the sound of the Cubs feeding was almost hypnotic to him and his eyelids began to close slightly, so he went to the other side of the bed and got on the bed right behind his wife. He then lied down in the same position as Tigress right behind her and he wrapped his left arm around her chest and closing his eyes as he quietly said “Thank you...” Tigress had allowed the Panda to lie down behind her as she felt his presence comforting and she turned her head around and asked “for what?”

 

“For being perfect.”


End file.
